Avatar of the Four Dragons
by Kyu No Ken
Summary: A tale of a man that disappeared centuries ago, leaving his mark as the creator of the disciplines. Only for him to re-appear once again in a time where the shinobi no longer exists in order to bring peace to the land once again . . . . .
1. Trailer

Trailer:

Avatar of the Four Dragons

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A little girl is being carried to her bed as she rests her head on her mom's shoulder, opening her eyes revealing bright blue eyes, she looked at her mom.

"Mommy"

"Hmm?" replied her mother

"Can you tell me a bed time story?"

"Which story you want to hear little one?" asks her mom softly as she looked at her daughter, eyes of the same shade of color as the little girl, and a splitting image of an older version of the little girl, as she set her on the bed.

"The story of the first avatar!" said the girl excitedly

Chuckling softly, the mother sat next to her child and closed her eyes, beginning her tale . . .

_**According to legend, many centuries ago, the four nations were once filled with war and destruction . . .**_

/ . \

At a valley where two giant statues stood, giant water falls dividing it. Two figures were fighting with all their might in trying to slay one another as they used their most powerful attacks in their arsenal, both tired and injured from their clash.

\ . /

_**Chaos and death ruled over the nations as war kept raging throughout the lands . . .**_

A raven haired teen wearing a tattered white long-sleeved shirt which was open at the torso, a family crest of a fan etched on his back, with black pants and a blue cloth hanging from halfway up his stomach to his knees. A purple rope belt around his waist, tied in a bow, his sword drawn as he swung to strike down his foe with vengeance with a loud yell

/ . \

_**But one man, whose life was one of pain and misery for housing a powerful being since the day he was born . . .**_

\ . /

A blond teen with whisker like marks adorning his cheeks was blocking the oncoming sword strike with his black metal arm bracers on his forearms, his upper body cut and bruised from battle, loose white kung fu pants tattered by the battle he raged against the raven haired foe.

/ . \

_**Strode to end the meaningless war that had taken the lives of his loved ones, and mastered the spirit's power by fusing with it his own . . .**_

\ . /

Deflecting the sword away from himself, both jumped away each other. The blonde and the raven haired teen stared at each other defiantly as both refused to bend at each other's will to victory

/ . \

_**His power being unmatched when reaching its peak, unleashing it on those who threaten his home . . .**_

\ . /

Having no choice, but to eliminate the one he once considered a brother; the blond slowly closed his eyes and searched deep within himself to unleashed a power that no one possessed

/ . \

_**Like a dragon that he was, gentle and calm as it slept, but when awaken . . . **_

_**The dragon becomes fearsome and deadly when threatened . . .**_

\ . /

Energy began to dance around him as tattoos slowly began to appear on parts of his body till they became visible, but his most noticeable feature were the four dragons of each element, -fire, water, earth and wind -, tattooed on his back as they glowed a bright crimson with the rest of his new features, opening his eyes, the once ocean blue, they were now crimson as blood as he glared at his once brother

/ - \

_**Allowing him to bend the very same elements of Nature, to a point never thought possible as he used them with his very will . . . **_

The blond began to do tai chi forms as his body became relaxed and his breathing was controlled, fluently motions he did with his hands as the water itself began to move towards him, circulating around him as he changed his tempo, but the breathing remained the same. Currents of air came to him, surrounding him like a tornado, mixing with the water as it became ice inside the tornado, with the blond standing in the middle of the razor iced typhoon

\ . /

The raven haired prepared his final assault as he unleashed a blazing torrent of black flames from his eyes, big enough to destroy a small army, sending it straight at the bond, in hopes of finally killing him

/ . \

_**In order to fight the last remaining threat . . .**_

\ . /

Seeing the incoming flames, the blond unleashed his attack as he jumped in the air in a circular motion and landed on his feet with both hands extended forward, sending the typhoon towards his enemy, in hopes of ending it permanently

/ . \

Both attacks meeting head on, colliding with each other as the power struggle reach its max, to finally end in a bright flash of light as it exploded, consuming everything in reach.

\ . /

_**In order to achieve peace and balance in the land . . .**_

/ . \

The blond and the raven hair warrior still held their stance as the light became brighter and brighter till they were both consumed by the explosion of their attacks

\ . /

_**Only for him, to disappear without a trace, leaving the world in wonder as to what had happened to him . . . **_

/ . \

The valley was left in ruins in the aftermath of the battle the two waged on. But neither of the two were found, both vanishing without a trace

\ . /

At a village far away from the valley, a women was giving labor to a child, a healthy boy with tattoos similar to the ones of the blond glowing faintly a sky blue

/ . \

_**With his mysterious death, a new bender of the four elements was born, and thus the avatar cycle began . . . **_

\ . /

A young girl and her brother both stumbled in a circular iceberg, with a person trapped deep within. The girl using her limited knowledge of waterbending, she broke the dome in half, letting the compressed air to come out and both peeked inside, surprised to find frozen kid with an arrow on his head, wearing clothes worn by the air nomads.

/ . \

_**But some refused to believe that the crimson avatar had died . . .**_

\ . /

"My name is Naruto Namikaze," a blond person wearing white loose kung fu pants with black leather kung fu shoes and black metal leg bracers adorning from the insteps of his feet to halfway his shins, a dark blue sleeveless vest covered his upper body and both forearms were adorned with black metal bracers on each forearm, introduced himself as he extended his hand forward for a handshake to a light brown skinned girl with bright blue eyes

"M-My name is Ka-Katara" the young girl who looked around 16 or 17 replied back shyly as she shook hands with him and noticed how handsome the young man looked, but saw that he held a lot of pain and loneliness in his eyes.

/ . \

_**Some believed that he had gone into a deep meditative sleep, only to awaken when he was needed once again . . . **_

\ . /

"This is a surprise, I would have never thought I would meet the crimson avatar after 3,000 years," the spirit of the library exclaimed with mild surprise

"_Crimson avatar!_" Katara thought to herself in shock as she processed what the Owl spirit had said, confusing Sokka and Aang since they didn't know what was so special about it.

"Naruto, why did he call you the crimson avatar, when it was said he lived three thousand years ago?" Katara asked the blond as they stared at each other's eyes, hoping the blond would clarify the spirit's claim

Closing his eyes, sighing, Naruto answered her question, "he calls me by one of the titles given, because I was there three thousand years ago, I was the one who brought balance to the world . . ."

/ . \

_**In order for once again, protect the four nations from the wielder of the darkness flames . . . **_

\ . /

Underneath the hidden caverns of Ba Sing Se

Naruto stared in disbelief at the person he thought he would never in his wildest imagination, see ever again, to suddenly scowl in rage as he let his power loose, his tattoos glowing their crimson glow

"Sasuke . . . "

"It has been a long time since our last battle, hasn't it, Avatar of the Four Dragons," Sasuke said emotionlessly as he stared passively at the blond, dark flames being let loose around him, circulating him in a pillar of flames as they both got ready to settle the score . . .

/ . \

Sasuke almost drained out of energy, gathered the last of his remaining strength into his right, black electricity cackling, running towards his enemy as called out his attack

\ . /

**One last time . . .**

/ . \

Naruto feeling exhausted and drained from battle, he focused on the palm of his right hand a small sphere, making grow larger and larger as he added the wind element into his attack, a loud whistling noise being heard as it form was completed in the form of a giant shuriken and rushed towards his foe, shouting his attack

\ . /

Futoon: Rasenshuriken!

Chidri Nagashi!

/ . \

. . . Once and for all

_**But alas, no one knows what exactly had happened to him or to where his whereabouts are, but one thing is for certain, he was never forgotten, for by the mere mention of his title, the leaders of the four nations never dared to disturb the balance of the lands, for they didn't want to awaken him and invoke his wrath, until now . . . . **_

Kya finished her story as she opened her eyes and saw that her daughter had fallen asleep as she snored softly in her pillow

Smiling softly, the mother slowly stood up, so she wouldn't awaken her and pulled the covers over her, causing the little girl to snuggle deeper in her covers.

"Good night Katara, my little waterbender," said Kya as she leaned forward and gave her daughter a soft kiss on the forehead, turned off the light candles causing the room to go dark as she walked out of the room . . . .

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AND CUT!

This is a trailer of what I have been cooking up in my mind, a Naruto/Avatar: the Last Airbender X-Over, review and tell me what you think. Thank you and out.

Notes:

The Tattoos: the tattoos I was referring to were the ones that appeared on Yu Yu Hakusho when Yusuke turns into a Mazuko, the four dragon tattoo is my original idea

The attire: the choice of clothing I decided to give Naruto was the one that Super Majin Buu wore from the DBZ: Majin Buu saga


	2. Book I Prologue

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or Avatar: the Last Airbender

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Prologue;

Tale of a Legend

Deep within a library, hidden from the world as it sat underneath the sands of the earth kingdom, a man sat in a desk, with a vast of scrolls laying around the table and the walls, looking for any mean to help him defeat and conquer his enemies but unfortunately, all of his efforts were in vain, and in frustration, he tossed the scrolls aside.

"ARGHH, useless scrolls! None of them contain any important information on the other nations!" yelled the man as he stood up and tore his hand through his hair in frustration, and was about to walk away, till out of the corner of his eye, he saw a scroll, resting between the teeth of a carved shaped dragons head, the insignia of the four elements marked at each different corner in a quadrilateral shape.

Curiosity gaining the best of him, the man walked towards the carving and slowly reached for the scroll. Seeing that nothing had happened when he touched it, he began to pull the scroll in attempts to break it free of its confined, but just as he pulled, the dragons head clicked, making him get cautious but the dragon only dropped its lower jaw, releasing the scroll.

The man backed away from the dragons carving, and sat down at the chair he used, and slowly unrolled the scroll, reading its contents in it, only to read a legend of old;

_**Legend of the Avatar of the Four Dragons**_

**-\ . /-**

**\ /**

_**Long before the Avatar came to existence,**_

_**And the knowledge of bending the elements became a way of life,**_

_**The rule of the shinobi dictated over the nations,**_

_**Waging war through the continents as they strived to conquer each other,**_

_**Leaving death and destruction in its wake,**_

_**Innocent lives lost in its aftermath,**_

_**But one child, who was chosen to jail a mighty spirit beast,**_

_**Scorned and hated, terrorized and beaten**_

_**Stepped forward and strode to end the wars,**_

_**Fusing his life energy with the spirit bound within him,**_

_**Gained the abilities to control the elements themselves by will,**_

_**And unleashed it onto the world,**_

_**Like a dragon soaring through the lands,**_

_**Defeating every threat in his path, **_

_**His power unmatched by no one,**_

_**As the marks of his body glow red,**_

_**Four dragons marking on his back,**_

_**Brought peace to the world.**_

_**Despite the power he contained, he was still human**_

_**And sought to pass his knowledge to four disciples,**_

_**Teaching them the fighting arts he created for each element,**_

_**Bringing balance as he divided his knowledge,**_

_**Sadly, the peace was disrupted once again,**_

_**As the wielder of the dark flames came,**_

_**Seeking to destroy with his flames of vengeance,**_

_**Only to clash with the dragon himself,**_

_**Long and hard they fought,**_

_**To only disappear in the end without a trace,**_

_**And with the death of the Crimson Avatar,**_

_**A new master of the elements was born,**_

_**Thus, the cycle of the Avatar came to be**_

_**Taught by the disciples of the first Avatar,**_

_**The new avatar learned to master the elements,**_

_**Maintaining the peace and balance for generations to come,**_

_**Only to disappear once again, in the world's time of need.**_

_**Foretold, it has been,**_

_**One day the Avatar of the Four Dragons shall awaken once again,**_

_**To light the courage of those who lost hope,**_

_**To unite the people to fight for peace,**_

_**And rectify the wrongs of the lands,**_

_**By defeating the same evil that fought him long ago,**_

_**And once again, bring order to the world.**_

Finishing reading what the scroll contained, the man scoffed, and threw the paper across the room as it landed with a clank as he picked up the torch and walked out of the room, to do more research on finding any weaknesses on the nations his nation waged war against.

The scroll laid there on the floor, underneath where the dragons head was mounted. If the man had not turn around and left, he would have noticed the rumbling of the dragon's jaw as it closed, and its eyes giving a crimson glow within the darkness, lighting the room softly till they finally died and darkness consumed it all . . . . . .


	3. Book I Chapter 1

Welcome to tonight's entertainment, this is the opening chapter of the story, so sit back and relax, and hopefully you enjoy the show.

(A/N): explanation at the end of the chapter every time this is posted

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or Avatar: the Last Airbender

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Beginning of a Cycle;

The Dragon lays to Rest

-\ II /-

\ . /

Clashing of thunder and trembles of the earth, hurricane winds and the eruption of black and white flames were seen coming from the mouth of the valley, as a fierce battle took place.

Far from the distance of the battle, four figures were running at high speeds through the forest, in hopes of catching with their comrade, only to stop just as a tremor shot across the lands and felt a rise of power. Across the distance, the four saw a crimson beam of light going upwards, as if it was reaching towards the heavens.

"His power sure is intimidating," muttered a young man with spiky brown hair, the symbol of fire sage etched in the back of his red robe as he stared at the beam of light.

"Yea it is," whispered a young woman that has orange hair tied up, with red elastics, into two very large pigtails, her robes were orange/brown with the symbol of air sage on her back.

A teen with unfocused colorless eyes *(A/N) and short light brown hair adoring a golden colored robe with the symbol of earth sage on his robe just nodded his head, worried for his master as he was fighting a powerful enemy that wished their destruction, and lastly a teen near him wearing a light blue robe with the symbol of water with black hair kept staring, mesmerized at the power and strength that his teacher held, the crimson light show could be seen all over the elemental nations.

"Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, let's go, the faster we get there, the faster we can help him," exclaimed the blue robed teen as the rest of the teens just nodded their heads and they continued to rush towards the valley.

-/ . \-

Moments before the light beam shot through the sky, two giant statues stood beside the giant waterfall within the valley itself, the sounds of grunting and yelling echoed through the valley along the sounds metal clashing as two figures were fighting it out. A raven haired teen with blood dripping from his mouth, the side of his head and eyes, wore a tattered and bloodied white long-sleeved shirt which was open at the torso, a family crest of a fan etched on his back, with black pants and a blue cloth hanging from halfway up his stomach to his knees. A purple rope belt around his waist, tied in a bow, his sword drawn as he swung to strike down his foe with vengeance with a loud yell as he brought his sword down towards his target.

"Die!"

A blond teen wearing tattered loose white kung fu pants with black battle shoes, his upper body cut and bruised from battle, whisker like marks adorning his cheeks kept dodging left and right, ducking right underneath it as he evade the slashes of the sword, but still kept getting cut in the process as the blade managed to reach his skin a few times. Then his enemy jumped in the air for an overhead slash with both hands on the hilt, but he quickly managed to intercept by extending his left arm forward , catching the downward strike by placing his hand on the wrists with an opened palm, and stood his ground firm and fearless, getting in a horse stance as he reared his fist and shot it forward, turning his body as one unit, moving his right leg in front of his left leg for a stronger strike, the fist finding its mark in his opponent's chest, sending the raven haired teen back crashing onto the rocky terrain of the valley, causing a small avalanche as rocks landed on top of him.

Watching the rubble of rocks falling down, the blond warrior relaxed his guard a little as he couldn't feel any movement on the ground, but to relax a little was dangerous in a place of battle, as he soon learned as the raven haired teen he had sent towards the rocks jumped out of the ground from behind, causing the blond to turn around in surprise as the swordsman brought his sword down with the intent of cutting him in half, only to find the blond to counter defense by blocking the oncoming sword strike with his black metal arm bracers on his forearms, using his physical strength to try and push the swordsman off of him, but was struggling as the raven haired teen overpowered him and slowly brought the blade down towards the blonds face.

Seeing that the blade was getting closer and closer, he shifted his feet closer and fire began to sprout from the plant of his feet. Using his body, the elemental bender pushed off the blade and sent a rising flaming kick, aiming for the chin, but the swordsman saw what his opponent was trying to do and managed to jump away unharmed a few feet back, away from him as he landed on top of a small hill, glaring down at the blond as he landed on the hill across from him, black onyx eyes glaring spitefully at ocean blue eyes.

"Surrender Sasuke, I don't wish to fight you in a pitiless battle, but I cannot allow you harm the people of the village," said the blond teen as he stared passively at the teen now identified known as Sasuke.

Sasuke began to chuckle and slowly the laughter began to get louder and louder as he finally let out a madman's laughter, calming down with a crazed looked in his eyes

"You must be more delusional than I thought, Naruto," said the Uchiha as he sneered at Naruto as said blond narrowed his eyes at the raven haired teen as he began to close his eyes

"If you think I'm just going turn myself in and take it laying down to what that forsaken village did to my clan and accept my fate! They wouldn't be nothing, if weren't for the might of the Uchiha clan" finished the Uchiha darkly as he re-opened his eyes and his eye color had changed, to blood color eyes with intersecting eclipses.

The blond just stood quiet, knowing full well what the advisers of the village council and the Sandaime himself did by ordering the complete annihilation of the Uchiha clan at the hands of his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, since they were planning a coup d'état by trying to overthrow and kill the Sandaime Hokage along with the Clan heads that formed majority of the council and take control of Konohagakure no Sato.

"You got your revenge when you killed Danzo, Koharu and Homura, there's no point for you to spill the lives of the innocent," retorted Naruto as he tried to reason with the ludicrous Uchiha

"My revenge isn't complete since I didn't get kill the one who authorize it, but destroying the village of Konoha and her people should be an equivalent substitute for the genocide of my clan," was the Uchiha's crazed response as he gained a dark crazed look in his eyes, "along with your with your wife and unborn child."

Naruto narrowed his eyes dangerously at the Uchiha's threat, but he just took a deep breath and let out a sigh as he closed his eyes

"I see . . . then you leave me with no other alternative," said Naruto as he began to concentrate on unleashing his real strength, affecting the forces of nature around him as the air began to breeze rapidly; waves of water began to crash around the rocks of valley wildly as a large spider web crack appeared on the earth.

An outline of red energy began to sprout out of Naruto's body, circulating him all over his persona as small tattoos began to appear on some parts of his upper body, barely visible to the naked eye. Sasuke was looking astonished as he finally gets to see the power that his former teammate had gained and used in order to defeat and kill his ancestor, Madara Uchiha, and ending the Fourth Great Ninja War, bringing glorious peace to the elemental nations.

Not wanting for Naruto to get the upper hand by overpowering him, the Uchiha sprung into action by tearing into hand signs at blinding speed, and took a deep breath as he finish the hand sign sequence on the tiger seal and shouted his technique.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!"

A stream of dark fire originated from his mouth as it rushed towards the powering blond, hitting him dead on as the flames impacted and formed a giant tower of fire, engulfing him completely.

Sasuke smirked with satisfaction as he thought that the blond had been killed, since nothing on this world could have survived a direct hit from the intense heat of his flames, flames that he had obtained after he achieved total control over the Amaterasu.

But his smirk soon turned into a scowl as he saw that the blond had survived as a beam of red light shot towards the skies, forcefully dispersing the pillar of fire as it revealed Naruto, his eyes still closed, unharmed and floating a good fifteen feet of the ground as the tattoos had now become fully visible, a double headed arrow on his chest with two small lines going downward on the sides of his pectorals, a circle on each shoulder with scoop underneath it, a spiral tattoo on each forearm, starting from his wrist to halfway up his forearm, all glowing a bright crimson but his most noticeable tattoo of them all was the one on his back, four dragons of each element, -fire, water, earth and wind -, glowing on his back, tangled with one another as if they were reaching for the heavens.

The blond's eyes that were closed had now shot open. Eyes that once had a nice shade of ocean blue were now portraying slitted eyes with red irises, and spoke with a deeper almost demonic voice.

"**Sasuke Uchiha! You and your forefathers have disrupted the peace of this world for far too long. It's time that I rectify a mistake that your late brother committed when he spared you,"** stated Naruto as he landed on the ground and stood in the praying mantis stance, with his right leg forward as he leaned back all of his body weight into his left leg, both elbows separated an inch away from the abdomen with the forearms placed forward with wrists bend upward making the fingers point up, and waited for the Uchiha to make his move as he closed his eyes and used the vibration of the ground to see.

"You think you can kill me!" shouted Sasuke, enraged at the calmly tone that the blond had said, as if he wasn't a threat to him

"_I'll show you dobe, that no matter what power you posses or who's line you came from, you'll always be beneath me, an Uchiha!,_" thought the Uchiha sinisterly as he prepared to use his most powerful fire attack, blood dripping from the corner of his eyes as he summoned the dark flames of Amaterasu, forming an ember at the palm of his hands, growing bigger and bigger till both hands were engulf in flames.

The blond 'saw' what the Uchiha was trying to do and changed his stance from the praying mantis to tai chi as he began to do its forms, his body became relaxed and his breathing became controlled, fluently motions he did with his hands as he waved them around in the air, causing the water of the water within the valley to move towards him, circulating around him as he changed his tempo, but the breathing remained the same as he now began to move his whole upper body in a circular motion while moving his hands in the same rhythm. Gusts of wind began to pick up around him, surrounding him like a tornado as it mixed with the water, turning it to ice inside the air torrent, with the blond standing in the middle of the razor iced typhoon, ready to permanently strike down the person that he once considered a brother

-\ . /-

The unidentified teen along with the once Konohamaru Corps kept running at high speeds, the valley coming into view as they got closer and closer, feeling the winds getting stronger as they reached their destination, debris flying in their direction in the process

"Inari! Konohamaru! Look, we're close to the valley," shouted Moegi to her teammates while Udon, having a better sense of feeling of the terrain, he felt large pieces of broken trees coming in their direction, and yelled out a warning

"Incoming!"

Both Inari and Konohamaru looked up ahead and saw many broken trees were flying in their direction, and noticed that one of the larger chunks of wood was about to hit them, but Moegi reacted by jumping into the air and passed between them, twisting her body in the air to deliver a spinning kick, compressed air shot from her foot as she sent the broken pieces of trees and everything that came in their direction away from the two into the distance as the three landed in the ground panting a bit

"Thanks Moegi," said Konohamaru as Inari just nodded his head

Grinning a bit, she turned to her elemental brothers, and decided to tease him a bit, "No problem Kono-chan"

"Don't call me that!" whined Konohamaru as Inari and Udon just chuckled a bit, but when Inari saw that most of the debris caused by Moegi blocked their path, he voiced his opinion

"Damn, we're going to have to around this and it'll take us longer to reach the valley," cursed Inari

"Leave it to me," replied Udon as he step forward ahead of the group and firmly placed both his feet into the ground, placed both elbows a little bit away from his stomach and raised his hands with his palms open facing down, to suddenly brought them down forward, as if he was pushing a boulder, only to cause a giant dirt cloud to form as the earth parted, pushing all that blocked their path. Once the cloud cleared, a cleared path stood right in front of them.

"Nice going Udon, now let's go," ordered Konohamaru as they once again ran towards the valley

-/ . \-

Back the valley, the battle was about to reach its climax as Sasuke reared his hands back as he crazily shouted at the blond . . .

"You're right! One of us is going to die Naruto, but it's not going to be me! AMATERASU!"

. . . Shot both his hands forward, launching a giant stream of fire at the blond.

With a twist of his upper body, Naruto moved in a circle as he waved his hands in a circular motion, only to stop as he shot his right hand forward with an open palm, sending the typhoon straight into the flames.

Both streams met head on as they collided with one another, both fighters focused on overpowering each other's attack, but neither one getting the upper hand as they both continue to struggle. Naruto saw that the elements began to mix and knew that if this continued, their attacks would reach their breaking point and cause a giant explosion, most likely severely injure or kill both of them, but that was a risk he was willing to take, twisting his foot a little, he ordered the earth to get a hold of Sasuke as the earth itself reached up and clamped into his legs, not giving him a chance to escape

"WHAT!" shouted Sasuke in surprise as he looked down at his legs and saw he was being held in place

Naruto pushed even further, sending more currents of air into the fire, making the struggle of the elements to reach their max as it formed a giant sphere of energy, growing bigger and bigger by minute till it finally couldn't hold it anymore and began to glow a bright light till it exploded, engulfing Sasuke and Naruto in the process as they both stood firm on their ground, or trapped in the Uchiha's case.

-\ . /-

The four sages finally reached their destination as they landed at top of the mouth of the valley only to find a giant explosion in its wake. Udon realizing the danger they were in, he jumped in front of the group and got into a solid horse stance, shot his forearms forward in a defensive position as he commanded the earth to build a giant wall in front of them, protecting them from destruction as Udon began to sweat profusely by maintaining the wall from collapsing from the sheer force of the explosion.

-/ . \-

As the explosion occurred, Naruto bended the earth to build a massive shield, but at point blank, the force of the explosion was so great, it obliterated the wall and hit Naruto directly, injuring him severely as he was sent dashing through the boulders and into the water, slowly sinking into the depths. Using the last bit of his strength before he lost consciousness, the blond clashed both of his fists together and caused a tornado to form under water, and tried to separate the water but it backfired as the water itself began to freeze around him, and due to his injuries, the blond couldn't hold the tornado for long as he began to slip into consciousness. But before his world went black, one person was on his mind and let out a sad smile.

"_Forgive me Ten-ten, for I wasn't able to keep my promise,_" thought Naruto regretfully as he closed his eyes and finally lost consciousness within the ice pillar, putting his body in a hibernating healing state, and his ice chamber slowly sinking into darkness of the lake

-\ . /-

The shield that Udon made slowly crumbled back to the ground as the four took a look at what remained of the valley. The statues that once portrayed the founders of Konoha were nothing more than just rubble as a few parts only remained. A giant crater was created where the explosion took place; the water was still held back by an unknown force till it finally came crashing down the crater, the waves roaring as it filled the gap on the ground.

"Unbelievable . . ." said an astonished Inari

"Yea, but where is he, I don't see him anywhere," said a concern Moegi as she kept looking for their master as she walked a few steps forward

"Let's split up and look, we'll cover more ground this way," suggested Udon as he 'looked' at his friends who just nodded an affirmative at the idea, but before they began to mobilize, they all heard a groaning of pain coming from a couple of feet away from their location, a hand sprouting from the rubble as the person tried to dig himself out.

"There he is! Naruto!" Moegi shouted in relief as she rushed ahead with the three following behind her. Once she was in reach, she saw who it was that crawled out of the rocks and made a sudden stop as she stare in shock as to who it was, Konohamaru, Udon and Inari catching up with her

"Moegi what's wrong? Why you stop?" asked Inari as he, Udon and Konohamaru saw her look in disbelief, turning to see what she was looking at that got her in this state, only to be surprised themselves as they saw that it was none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

"Uchiha . . ." growled Inari as he sprung forward and waved his hands upward, causing the water to crash into Sasuke against the wall, freezing him in place, leaving his head the only part of his body unfrozen, causing the Uchiha to cough blood on the ice due to his ribs being damaged even further.

"Where is Naruto, you bastard," demanded Konohamaru, only for Sasuke to chuckle darkly at the teens as he lifted his head up and looked directly into their eyes

"I killed him, he wasn't strong enough to defeated me," responded the Uchiha, causing the guys to growl dangerously as they held their anger while Moegi held her hand atop of her mouth in shock

"You're lying!" shouted Moegi with tears developing at the corner of her eyes

"Heh heh, am I now? Then pray tell why I'm the one still alive while your precious master is dead at the bottom of the lake," sneered Sasuke as he let a cold laughter only for Inari to get angered even more and silenced him by freezing him completely, Udon raised his arm upward with his fingers pointing straight, cutting the earth where the Uchiha was being held in place and letting it fall into the water where it began sink, meanwhile Konohamaru held a crying Moegi, as she mourned the loss of their friend, brother, and teacher.

"Let's go . . . we have to report to Lady Tsunade," muttered a sadden Konohamaru as the two somberly nodded their heads while Moegi still cried in Konohamaru's chest, tears slowly falling out of their eyes as they bowed their heads in silent respect before they headed back to the village.

-/ . \-

Meanwhile, back in the hospital of Konohagakure no Sato; there was a big group of people in the waiting room as they patiently waited for news of their friend, who was giving birth to the son of a certain knuckle headed avatar, who has yet to return with victory over the traitorous Uchiha, causing some to get worried

"Damn it! Where is that stupid blond, he should be here to see his son being born," exclaimed a chunin with spiky brown hair and black slitted eyes as he sat next to his companion, a giant wolf like dog as he bark in agreement

"Mendokuse, you know who that troublesome blond is fighting against, Naruto cannot afford to take it lightly against him," a jonin with a pineapple hair style reminded to his comrade

"But still Shikamaru, it has been almost three hours since we last felt that massive rise of chakra die out and saw that bright flash of light," a jonin with smooth black hair and pale lavender eyes gave his two cents as he voiced his opinion, causing some of the rookie nine to look down in concern, but a blond young woman decided to speak

"Look, this is Naruto we're talking about, he's too stubborn to lose to Sasuke, much less to die and leave his family behind, so stop thinking like he's going to die and let us wait for his return, for right now Ten-ten is our concern since she's still in the delivery room," said Ino as she turned her head back towards the doors of the delivery room

-\ . /-

Inside the room was a woman with brown hair tied in two buns was lying in bed with her legs open, panting with sweat pouring down her face as she went into labor, taking deep breaths as instructed by the nurse delivering the baby.

"You're doing great Ten-ten, just keep taking deep breaths and push, I can see the head coming," encouraged a fair skin lady with brown eyes. Her long, blonde hair tied into two ponytails except for her bangs, which are parted in the middle and fall down the sides of her face, her forehead adorned a violet rhombus. Her clothing consisting of a grey, kimono-style blouse with no sleeves, held closed by a broad, dark bluish-grey obi that matches her trousers, the blouse is closed quite low, as it revealed her sizeable cleavage.

A shoulder length dark hair girl with bangs and dark eyes wearing a long bluish-black kimono with white trimmings except for on the sleeves held closed by a white obi was monitoring Ten-ten as she kept wiping the sweat of her face

"Keep pushing Ten-ten, the head is already out," stated Shizune as she saw that Tsunade was carefully pulling the baby out of the womb, while Ten-ten still screamed in pain as she pushed.

"I'm going to fucking castrate that bastard with a rusted knife as soon as I see that fucking blond!" yelled/screamed a hormonal Ten-ten, scaring Shizune a bit

"_If Sasuke didn't kill him, I'm sure his wife will,_" thought Shizune, not knowing how true her thoughts were about the blond's "demise"

The wails of a baby suddenly filled the room, as Tsunade held a baby boy. Ten-ten, with teary eyes, stared at her new born son, happiness filling her whole being as she tried to reach for her baby. Tsunade slowly and carefully placed the baby in her mother's arms and watched tenderly as to how the mother brought the baby closely to her chest, silently crying in happiness as she held her baby. Then she looked towards Tsunade.

"Lady Tsunade, has Naruto returned yet?" asked Ten-ten hopefully, hoping that her husband was on other side of the doors, waiting to come in and see his son. But was only disappointed when Tsunade just looked down and sadly shook her head.

"Have you thought of a name for the baby yet, Ten-ten?" Asked a pink haired nurse with green eyes, wearing the usual nurse uniform as she had helped Tsunade-shishio to deliver Naruto's baby, hoping to brighten the mood

Smiling softly, she looked at the little bundle of joy she held in her arms, the weapon mistress simply said, "Raizen"

Suddenly, a glow began to emit from the baby, surprising everyone in the room as Ten-ten held out her son, worried that something was happening to her baby, but to her shock and everyone else's, the glow came from the same shape of tattoos that his father had, minus the whisker marks on his cheeks, till they finally stopped glowing and stayed visible for a few seconds till they had completely disappeared.

"Looks like we have a second coming of the gaki," joked the Hokage as everyone else shared a laugh, except Ten-ten, for she could not shake the feeling of dread that began to build up in her chest as she stared at her sleeping son and pulled him back to her chest, holding him tightly

"_Please Naruto, be alright,_" thought the weapon mistress as she looked out the window.

-/ . \-

At the front of the gates, the four benders arrived solemnly as they still couldn't believe that the blond was dead as they kept walking past the gates. The young Sarutobi stopped on his tracks, causing the rest to look at him, wondering what was going through his mind as he had been quiet all the way back to the village.

"You guys head towards the Hokage tower, I'll gather the rookie 9 along with bro's wife and meet you guys back there," said Konohamaru as he disappeared in a whirl of flames, heading towards the hospital as he left the rest of his team to do as they were told, since there was nothing left to do.

-\ . /-

Appearing in front of the hospital, the young Fire sage walked into the building and began to look around for Sakura, knowing well that she was in charge of the hospital in Tsunade's absence due to her Hokage duties, so she could help him gather everyone at the tower, but just as he made a turn, Konohamaru ran into Hanabi as she walked without paying attention and crashed into him, landing flat on her ass

"Watch where you're going you idio . . ." ranted the young Heiress but stopped once she saw that had ran into Konohamaru. Jumping to her feet, she ran into his arms, hugging each other tightly for a second till they parted lightly from the hug.

"When you got back Kono-kun? I missed you," said the young Hyuga as she looked into his eyes, her happiness replaced with concern as she saw the sadness in his eyes

"What happened Konohamaru?" whispered Hanabi as she placed her hand on his cheek. Konohamaru reached for her hand and gently gave it a squeeze, letting out a sigh; he looked at his girlfriend with tired eyes

"Hana-chan, do you know where I can find the Rokkie 9?" asked the young fire bender, completely ignoring her question

Nodding her head slowly, she nudged with her head towards the delivery room down the hall

"They're in the delivery room, celebrating with Naruto-sama's wife and the new born," was Hanabi's response as Konohamamaru gained a surprised look in his face, thinking he heard wrong, thinking that Ten-ten wasn't due till a couple more days.

"She already had the baby?"

Hanabi nodded her head, "Yes, she went into labor earlier than expected. She gave birth to a boy, looking like a mini Naruto , minus the whisker marks and having his mother's hair color instead of blonde with darker shade of blue in his eyes, but the most shocking surprise of all was the glowing tattoos that looked identical to Naruto's, glowing light blue instead of crimson though"

At this revelation, Konohamaru's eyes widen in shock, he didn't think it was possible for Naruto's power to be passed down through his kid

"_If Naruto's son gained his father's power then that means . . ._ "thought Konohamaru before he was brought out of his musing by Hanabi

"Konohamaru, what's going on?" asked Hanabi worriedly only to be grabbed on the shoulders by Konohamaru

"Hanabi, go to the Hokage tower and go get the rest of my team, tell them exactly what you said about bro's baby, k?" the fire sage said urgently, making the young heiress nod her head rapidly and dashed out of the hospital as soon as her boyfriend let go of her, heading straight to the tower, leaving Konohamaru alone in the corridor as he began to walk towards the doors and stopping with his hand on the handle, not looking forward to the news he was about to bring.

Taking a deep breath, the young Sarutobi walked inside.

-/ . \-

Everyone in the rookie 9 was rejoicing and laughing, as they celebrated and congratulated the weapon mistress. The girls ogling the baby as they each tried to hold him, squealing like little girls at the cuteness of the baby, while the guys just talked and claimed how he would grow strong and fearless like his father, only to be interrupted as the doors were opened and saw the grandson of the Sandaime walking in, the feeling in the room began to slightly change as some were feeling uneasy.

"Greetings Hokage-sama, I come to report to you on our mission, aiding Naruto Namikaze in his battle against Sasuke Uchiha," said Konohamaru as he kneeled down in front of everyone, but right in front of his leader, not daring to look up into the eyes of his late teacher's wife

"Brief me later Konohamaru, for right now that idiotic blond needs to get his ass here and greet his son," said Tsunade dismissively as she waved her hand non-caringly, but Konohamaru wouldn't have any of it

"I'm afraid that I must insist, for it is urgent," Konohamaru retorted back as he stood up and looked directly in the Godaime's eyes. Seeing the seriousness of Naruto's pupil, Tsunade put her poker face on and crossed her arms under her massive breasts, glaring with intensity back into his eyes, demanding an explanation from him, only to be interrupted by someone.

"Konohamaru-kun, did Naruto return with you?" asked Ten-ten from her bed, as she looked at him with worried eyes

"Yes, where is Naruto-kun Konohamaru?" a young woman that sat near Ten-ten on her bed. Long blue/purplish hair with lavender eyes staring at him, her resemblance to his girlfriend being uncanny, only difference was she was older by a few years

"Yosh! Naruto-kun should be here so he can shine his son with his flames of youth!" screamed a guy in tight green jumpsuit and orange leg warmers, huge eye brows with a bowl haircut as he pumped his fist into the air

"Lee! No shouting in the hospital!" yelled Sakura as she bonked Lee in the head

But all fell to deaf ears as Konohamaru kept his silence, hesitating to answer but kept still keeping his cool. A young man wearing his jacket hanging down to his knees, his hood obstructing his face adorning a satchel on his back, noticed the young bender's body tensing up, and narrowed his eyes at him

"There's something you're not telling us," said the hooded teen

"I'll answer all of your questions, but first we must wait for the others to arrive," said the fire bender firmly. Kiba was about to ask who he was referring to, but his answer was answered as a giant puff of smoke appeared in the room, revealing the rest of Konohamaru's teamamtes, wearing unreadable expressions as the smoke cleared, with Hanabi in tow

"Alright brat, cut the bullshit, what hell is going on and where is Naruto," ordered Tsunade as her patience was running thin, tired of beating around the bush

Taking a deep breath, the young Sarutobi started to speak;

"Naruto is dead, killed by Sasuke Uchiha at the Valley of the End"

And the whole room became deadly silent as Konohamaru dropped the bomb on them, the news slowly sinking in, shaking everyone to the very core, but his wife, taking it the hardest as she just sat there, shell shocked in place with a stricken look in her face

"No . . . no . . . no, no, no, no, please tell me that it's not true! Please tell me he is just playing a sick joke on us!" pleaded Ten-ten as cried desperately, her tears dripped down her cheeks as she got out of the bed, despite that she had gone through labor almost few minutes ago and walked right up to Konohamaru, gripping him by the robe as she shook him back and forth

"You better be lying Sarutobi!" growled the Hokage menacingly as she released her killer intent at the fire user

"Konohamaru, please! Tell me he isn't dead!" cried the weapon mistress only for the four of them to lower their heads in silent.

"It's true, Sasuke confirmed it when we confronted him," Moegi whispered softly as she closed her eyes

Falling to her knees, she cried in her hands as everyone watched in sorrow at the now widow. Tsunade sat in a chair in disbelief, her heart aching as she lost another member of her family, tears silently falling down as her body began to feel numb, staring into the wall. Shikamaru held Ino as she cried in his chest, along with Hinata as she cried in the arms of her cousin, Neji. Kiba, Choji and Shino just sat quiet in the back of the room with their eyes shut, sobbing quietly as they mourned their fallen friend

Turning his attention back to the group, Shikamaru asked them a question that had everyone's attention,

"What happened to Sasuke?"

Inari was the one who responded, "I froze him leaving his head free, to interrogate him what he had done to Naruto-sensei, but he gloated how he had killed him and froze him completely. Udon crumbled the earth beneath him, sending him sinking into the depths of the valley"

Konohamaru then kneeled down and placed his hands on her shoulders, making Ten-ten look into his eyes

"Ten-ten, I have a request," started Konohamaru, "I want to teach Naruto's son fire bending when he comes of age. I want to give his son his legacy" he finished saying, shocking everyone in the room

"I'll teach him water bending," volunteered Inari

"I'll teach him earth bending," Udon said next as he stepped forward next to Udon

"And I'll teach air bending," Moegi said lastly as she stood in between Udon and Inari

"How do you know that he's going to be able to use all four styles? Naruto's power was unique; we don't know much about it except that he got it after he merged his power with the Kyuubi's. Hell we don't even know if the boy inherited the same power as well," exclaimed Shikamaru as he voiced out his opinions, but the answer to his questions were answered by the Hokage

"Naruto's son did inherit his father's bloodline, for right after he was born, the same tattoos that appeared on Naruto's body when he used his power appeared on the little brat's body, but only for few seconds till they disappeared," explained the busty Hokage

"We believe that with Naruto's passing, the essence that resided in him was passed down to his son, making him the second avatar," stated Udon as he crossed his arms across his chest and closed his eyes and stopped to gather his thoughts, "but, we also theorized that the essence will retain some knowledge of the person's previous life, and also, become a cycle itself."

"How do you figure this?" asked Neji, curious at the earth bender's theory

"Naruto once told us that he felt the power he gained had a consciousness of itself, guiding him when he went into the avatar state as he used the four elements without clashing with each other. As for the theory of becoming a cycle, take Naruto himself for example, his main element was wind as he mastered it faster out of the three, then water and earth, and lastly fire, having being the most difficult for him to master," explained Konohamaru this time, looking at the crowd in front of him

"So you're saying that the cycle would start with wind, that being Naruto to his son, which would be what element?" kept asking Neji

"The next element would be water," replied Udon as he lowered his head, "since it would make sense at the order that Naruto learned the elements."

Everyone contemplated at what was being said, but still couldn't believe that the blond was gone from their lives. Konohamaru, not seen the baby, walked up to the crib and peered inside, finding the little baby fast asleep as he softly snored, and smiled sadly, thinking of how he would grow up without a father, just like Asuma's son. The rest of the benders walked up to the crib, seeing the new born for the first time, could not help but smile at the innocence of the baby. Moegi reached with her hand and gently caressed the baby's cheek.

"What's his name?" asked Moegi, looking into Ten-ten's direction as she looked up from the crib. Wiping her tears with hands, the weapon mistress replied;

"His name is Raizen Namikaze"

"Raizen, huh?" muttered a pensive Konohamaru as he kept staring at the baby

"_I'm sorry for not making it on time to save your father little one_," thought Konohamaru as he placed his finger in the baby's hand, being grasped by the baby as he slept, "_we both lost something. We lost a great man that was a friend, a brother, a husband, a mentor and a leader, but I promise you, I'll train to be the man that your father would be proud of. "_

"_Naruto may be gone, but he won't be forgotten as a piece of him lives within you,_" thought Inari as he looked over Konohamaru's shoulder, "_guiding you as you grow_"

Moegi reached into the crib and gently picked up little Raizen into her arms, cuddling it close to her chest. Udon stood on her right as he placed an arm around her, reaching with his finger tips to feel the features of the baby. On her left, Knohamaru stood while Inari was standing right beside Udon, the four of them staring at the baby, and said infant began to slowly open his eyes, a soft glow emitting in them.

-\ . /-

The view slowly began to drift from them and out the window as it rose over the village and into the skies. The cycle of time passing by as day became night, and night became day, the seasons coming and going as the terrain changed with time and the age of the shinobi began to slowly die since they were no longer needed in times of peace as the Avatar maintained the balance within the four nations. The elemental nations went through drastic changes as the disciples of the crimson avatar taught the ways of bending to the people, forming new ways of life that would last through the centuries. The five main villages would be divided and in their place four nations named after the element they were taught would take their place. The earth nation residing in the east taking a vast majority of land, the fire nation located at the western volcanic islands of the oceans, the water benders went their separate routes as some went north and south, thus creating the Northern and Southern tribes. The air benders migrated into the three highest mountains of the world, creating their civilization detached from the rest of the world.

Everyone was enjoying the peace and harmony they have had for the past ten-thousand years (A/N)* as they lived in prosperity, but sadly, everything doesn't last forever as war was rising at the horizon. History was about to be made that would shock the nations to their foundation in the years to come, and this, my friends, is where the tale truly begins. . . . . . .

-/ . \-

The view fast forwards into distance as it reached the place where the Valley of the End was once located, but instead of what was left over of the two statues that stood aside of the waterfall, a large body of water had overflown the valley through the years as an island floated on top of the ocean. Two volcanoes' erupting as the smoke coming from the volcano's mouth covered the skies in a big shroud; ashes falling as it were black snow.

One man was fighting against nature itself, his long white hair sticking to his aged face and forehead with sweat as he bended earth, fire and wind to calm the raging volcano but he was unsuccessful, and closed his eyes in anger at his failure.

"Need a hand, old friend?"

The old man turned behind him to see who had arrived, and was surprised to see that it was his former best friend, Fire Lord himself

"Sozin!" exclaimed the old man surprised

"We have no time to waste Roku," exclaimed the Fire lord as he got off his dragon and joined his former friend in the attempt to calm down the volcano. Both stepped closer at the mouth of the volcano as the lava was pouring out like a geyser, Roku placed both his hands together as he closed his eyes and slowly brought them down as he exhale his breath, pushing the lava down into the volcano while Sozin extended his hand towards the river of molten rock and extracted the heat from the lava as he expelled it through his other hand, successfully calming it down somewhat till it erupted again with more force, making the ground underneath the Fire Lord collapse and would have fallen to his demise if it hadn't been for Avatar Roku, saving him as he extended his arm outward, bending the earth to make a small platform underneath Sozin, and nodded his thanks at Roku. The volcano erupted even stronger as the ground trembled, parting the ground its wake, and the two began to run for safety.

-\ . /-

A short distance away from the island that Avatar Roku lived in, deep under the water, an underwater rock slide was occurring as the ground continued to part. A giant boulder fell from its place, revealing an undamaged giant pillar of ice resting in captivity; its binds beginning to crack as the tremors kept getting stronger and stronger till the pillar was finally free and began to float away to the surface.

-/ . \-

"Don't breathe the toxic gases!" shouted Roku as he bended the air to blow away the air toxins, but the ground cracked underneath him and the poisonous gas shot into his face as he took a deep breath. Coughing and feeling noxious, Avatar Roku fell to one knee as he began to cough, and with his vision going blurry, he reached out for Sozin

"Please . . . . Sozin . . ." coughed Roku as he still held out his hand as he begged the Fire Lord for his help, and Sozin just stood there, staring back at the Avatar passively, till out of the blue, Sozin shot his fist forward and a flare of dark flames shot out of his fist, nailing the Avatar right in the chest, fatally wounding him as he was sent flying backwards, landing with a loud thud on the ground. A shocked Roku slowly sat up and held his chest, trying to put down the black flames that still burned his flesh, and was shocked to see the flames didn't disperse. Staring in shock at the betrayal of his former friend, the Avatar glared hatefully at the Fire Lord, as the wound and the poisonous gas finally beginning to take its toll on his body.

"Why Sozin . . . ?" muttered the Avatar as he stared at his former friend, but Sozin's appearance began to change. Roku thought that the toxins had affected his sense of sight, but this was proved wrong as the change of features was complete, and in Sozin's place a raven haired guy ,that looked to be in his early 20's, stood there. His eyes crimson as the blood itself with a dark ring around the iris and three tomoes on each eye, his face stone passive as he glared at the Avatar.

"You're not Sozin . . . who are you and what have you done to him!" rasped/shouted Roku as he glared hatefully at the person in front of him

"Sozin . . . has been dead for the past 60 years; I killed him after you had left on your journey to master the remaining elements. The prince found me frozen at a cave near the beach and freed me, helped me regain my strength as he told me the history of the world. Seeing the new possibilities of this age, I advised him to use his might to conquer the other nations since it was the most powerful of the four, but the fool refused and turned against me and challenged me, believing he could defeat me, so I killed him and took his place in the throne," confirmed the impostor, "it wasn't hard, due to the fact that the ancient arts seem to be forgotten, and placing an illusion over myself to make me look like Sozin wasn't much of a challenge. I had hoped on your return, that you would not make the same foolish mistake your friend made, but yet again, I was proved wrong as you opposed me, defeating me without effort despite my power, but that was my mistake since I underestimated you for you're not just the Avatar, but a direct descendent of HIM AND HIS BASTARD OFFSPRING AS WELL!" finished the raven haired man with a snarl as he glared hatefully at Roku, "but with you gone, all my plans are going to be realized. I have a vision for the future, Roku, with me being its sole ruler." finished the raven haired imposter as his dragon landed behind him, waiting for his master to mount him. Mounting the dragon, the red eyed imposter stared passively at Roku and flew out of the island in haste, without turning back

-\ . /-

Back at the island, Roku kept glaring into the distance where Sozin's dragon flew, coughing and holding his chest in pain as he kneeled on the ground. Fang, the Avatar's dragon saw his master being in danger as the avalanche came crashing down the island. The dragon flew down towards Roku and wrapped himself around him, the avalanche engulfing both of them into their death along with the rest of the deserted village as the volcano continued to erupt.

Far away, the ice pillar had emerged, floating away into the South Pole, with the view of the lava gashing out of the volcano at a distance, unknowingly to await another century in order to finally awaken

-/ . \-

Meanwhile, at the Southern air temple, a little baby boy with brown hair was brought to the world, the mother smiling tenderly at her child. Not knowing of the fate that was set for the Air Nomads and the destiny that awaited he child, they continued to celebrate, only for said child to disappear 12 years later in the world's desperate time of need and to reappear in a world of chaos one hundred years later.

-\ . /-

Forty years had passed since the war first began, and the land in the South Pole hadn't changed since.

A squad of water benders was scouting the seas, looking for fire nation warships that dared to intrude and threaten their home, for its not wise to be on unguarded in times of war, especially since the fire nation soldiers were persistent of eradicating every water bender in the South Pole.

"The area looks clear, let's head home," shouted the leader of the squad to his squadron as he turned towards them, but just as he turned, he saw a black shadow underneath the ice. Curious as to what was inside, he ordered his men to stop

"Halt, I think we found something," said the leader, bending the water towards the ice berg. As soon as the boat hit shore, the leader stepped out and walked to the shadow. Not being able to see anything due to the snow that covered it, the man used his hand to wipe the snow away, giving him a clear view of the being that was inside and to his shock, he found a man trapped within

"What is the hell . . . "said the leader in shock

The view slowly peers into the iceberg, deep inside the pillar as it indeed, revealed a man frozen inside the ice, having blond hair with black bracers and tattered clothing . . .

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And . . . cut!

First official chapter of Avatar of the Four Dragons has been posted, and hopefully, it's a beginning that lives up to the expectations of the trailer I made, although it's only just the beginning.

There is a couple if things I would like to explain:

Udon is blind in this story

I decided to change the number of years that had passed, since by watching the series, I saw that there were a lot of reincarnations

I will explain as to how Naruto came to obtaining the power to bend the elements at later chapters to come, and took Inari, Moegi, Konohamaru and Inari as his students

R&R, let me know what you think and hope all of you enjoyed it, till next time.

The Ninth Fist out.


	4. Book I Chapter 2

I'm glad you guys like the way this story is going, and I hope to keep entertaining you guys with the oncoming chapters.

(A/N): explanation at the end of the chapter every time this is posted

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or Avatar: the Last Airbender

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Intro:

_Water._

_Earth._

_Fire._

_Air._

_My Grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace, when the Avatar kept the balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads,_

_That all changed when the Fire Nation attacked,_

_Only the Avatar could master all four elements. Only he could have stopped the ruthless Fire benders, but . . ._

_When the world needed him most . . ._

_He vanished._

_A hundred years have passed and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. _

_Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. _

_Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads, and believed the cycle to be broken._

_But I haven't lost hope,_

_For I feel a presence out there, someone powerful that can help us turn the tide and end the war, just like HE did centuries ago . . ._

_For, I still believe . . . that someday, the Avatar will return to save the world._

**. . . . .**

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The Return of the Avatar;

The Avatar of Four Dragons Awakens

-\ II /-

\ . /

For one hundred years, the war that Fire Lord Sozin had started, waged on, with the catastrophes being high, and the entire balance between the nations was destroyed when the Fire Lord ordered the eradication of the Air Nomads in order to stop the rebirth cycle of the avatar, but the avatar had fled the temples before the fire nation launched their attack without his knowing and disappeared from the face of the world, only to finally wake up once again . . . .

-\ . /-

The view goes around in the sky, passing through the clouds as it finally cleared and showed on top of the arctic waters of the South Pole, a small boat could be seen slowly drifting on the sea between the glaciers, and inside the small boat were two teenagers. One boy with tan skin, blue eyes, shaved head save for a strip of brown hair pulled back in a small ponytail and his companion was a girl, who also with tan skin, blue eyes, and brown hair whole some of her hair was pulled into a bun; as the rest was braided into a ponytail beneath it. Both were wearing thick blue fur clothes to protect them from the freezing winds.

The boy held a spear as he hungrily eyed the fish that swam by,"It's not getting away from me this time," he said greedily, "Watch and learn Katara," he said to the girl, "This is how you catch a fish."

Katara threw him a skeptical look, then looked down and spotted another fish. Taking off her glove, she raised her hand and began to wave her hand, causing a globe of water holding the fish to rise out of the water, "Sokka, look!" she called out excitedly

"Shh, Katara, you're gonna scare him away," he whispered, not taking his eyes off the fish. He licked his lips, "Mmm, I already smell him cooking."

"But Sokka, I caught one," She continued to move the globe through the air.

Just as Sokka reared the spear back going for the strike, he didn't notice the water globe behind him and with his spear, he stick it into the globe . . . popping it like a ballon, splashing all over as he cried out and the fish jumped back into the sea.

"Hey!" Katara yelled as she glared at Sokka.

Growling, he turned and glared at his sister, "why is that every time you play with magic water I get soaked?"

Katara sighed tiredly as she once again had to argue with her brother, "It's not magic. It's waterbending and it's-"

"Yeah, yeah, an ancient art unique to our culture, blah, blah, blah," Sokka recited annoyingly, "_You've only told like 1000 times_" thought in his mind."Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself, you're just as weird as that giant chunk of ice that has been in the middle of the village for lord knows how many years."

Katara raised an eyebrow, "You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection," smirking as her point was proven, since Sokka was doing it right now.

Realizing that Katara had proven her point, Sokka stopped his flexing and glared at her.

Then suddenly, the boat began to shake as it was picked up by a fast current, grabbing the paddle, Sokka started paddling to keep from crashing into ice chunks while his sister started screamed

"Watch out!" Katara yelled as she noticed two chunks of ice were headed their way in a collision course, making both of the get scared for if the boat got caught between them, it would be crushed along with them.

"Go left! Go left!" she cried.

Then the boat rammed into several ice chunks before ultimately getting crushed by the ice, as they were forced out of the boat and onto a platform chunk of ice. Both looked up and looked around, realizing that they were stranded.

"You call that left?" deadpanned Katara, looking at her brother

"You don't like my steering; well maybe you should of water bended us out of the ice," Sokka said as he sat up, making a water bending motion.

Katara stood up, "So it's my fault?" she said while her eyebrow was twitching annoyingly

"I knew I should have left you home; leave it to a girl to mess things up," Scoffed Sokka as he crossed his arms

Katara glared at him angrily, "you are the most sexist! Immature! Nut brained!" she yelled flailing her arms around wildly, unconsciously bending the water behind her, "I'm embarrassed to be related to you!" causing the iceberg behind her beginning to crack and break to pieces with her anger, while Sokka kept staring wide eyed, "Ever since mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!"

"Um, Katara . . ." Sokka said meekly as he put his .

"I even wash all the clothes! Have you even smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you. Not pleasant!" The iceberg cracked further as she continued to make angry faces.

"Katara! Settle down!" said Sokka as he tried to calm his sister down

"No! That's it! I'm done helping you! From now on you're on your own!" And finally, the iceberg broke completely, catching Katara's attention as she turned

As it collapsed, it created large waves that pushed them back even further

"Ok . . . You've gone from weird to freakish Katara," Deadpanned Sokka

"You mean I did that?"Asked a surprised Katara

"Yep, congratulations." Said the warrior wanna-be as he put his hand on her shoulder, but a blue light suddenly appeared from underneath and caught their attention. The water bubbled as it got bigger as the light kept glowing brighter and brighter until the light burst out of the water, turning out to be a giant glowing iceberg as it floated on the water with two shadows stuck inside the ice.

Katara looked closely at the iceberg and saw two figures, one big and one small. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"_What the heck?" _she thought

The smaller shape opened its glowing eyes, shocking the two teens, "He's alive, we have to help him," Katara exclaimed as she snatched Sokka's club and headed toward the iceberg.

"Katara get back here," Sokka ordered, "We don't know what that thing is," He grabbed his spear and chased after his sister.

By the time he got there, Katara was already clubbing the iceberg with all her might as she swung two times and a small crack began to form. With one last mighty swing and managed to break through, releasing a burst of air that blew them back. The crack began to course around the ice berg right through the middle before finally burst with a blue light shot up into the sky. Tiger seals roared in fright but stopped after a big boom. The light shot into what looked like a big hole in the sky where the same colored light circled down around the beam and crashed into the iceberg.

-/ . \-

However, Katara, Sokka, and the Tiger seals weren't the only ones to see the light. A metal boat not too far away with the flag of Fire was sailing through the ice bergs and in it, a teenage boy in red and black armor stared at the light in slight awe before his golden eyes began to narrow, glaring at it.

"Finally," he said, his head was mostly shaved, just a small patch of hair where a ponytail grew out of it, but his most noticeable feature however was the scar covering his left eye to his ear as his eye could barely open due to the massive scar.

"Uncle, do you realize what this means?" the boy said to an old man wearing red robes and armor.

"I won't get to finish my game." The man responded.

"It means," The boy ignored the remark, "my search is about to come to an end."

The old man sighed while rubbing his eyes and just shook his head '_Here we go again.'_ He thought.

"That light came from an incredibly powerful source, uncle. It has to be him," retorted the scarred fire bender to the old man, "Or it's just the celestial lights, we've been down this road before Prince Zuko, I don't want you to get too excited over nothing again," Zuko's uncle said as he continued playing his game of cards, "Now come and sit, why don't you have a nice cup of calming Jasmine Tea?"

"I don't need any freaking calming tea! I need to capture the Avatar!" Zuko exclaimed angrily, and then turned towards the tower of the ship, "Helmsman! Head a course to the light."

Iroh sighed and placed an air card over another air card as a gentle breeze swept through the ship.

-\ . /-

The steam had finally cleared, allowing the siblings to see the broken part of the iceberg. As they looked at each other then back to the iceberg, Sokka raised his spear as if waiting for something or someone to suddenly come out and attack them, but he didn't have to wait long for a young boy with a glowing arrow on his head rose out the iceberg.

Raising his spear higher, pointing at the kid, he yelled "Stop!" The kid stood fully up looking very intimidating as he based his eyes at the two.

The glow slowly disappeared and baldy collapsed onto the ground, heading head first, but luckily, Katara was able to catch him before he hit the ground and gently held him in her arms. Sokka scooted near the kid that lay on his sister's arms and began to poke him on the head with his spear. Katara getting annoyed with her brother's antics swatted the spear away as she glared at him.

"Stop it," Katara told her brother before she gently laid him down on the snow.

The bald one slowly started to awaken. Opening his storm grey eyes and groggily looked at Katara before gasping softly. _'Beautiful.'_ He thought. "I need to ask you something." He said weakly.

"What?"

"Please come closer."

"What is it?"

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" he asked excitedly as his eyes went wide open

Katara raised an eyebrow at his sudden burst of energy, not sure of what to do or say "Uh, sure, I guess."

While his sister was occupied talking to the new found stranger, Sokka was studying him, the kid was bald with an arrow going from his forehead and down his neck to most likely his back, arms and legs. His attire consisted of yellow clothing, _'Earth Kingdom?'_ thought Sokka, but the lack of green clothing told him that wasn't the case and made him scratch that theory out, _'Orange and yellow? Hmmm, why does that sound familiar?_' finished his thoughts as he started to scratched his chin as he watched the bald kid float to his feet, causing Sokka to jump back in surprise with his mouth open and spear in front

"What's going on here?" asked the kid

"You tell us! How did you get in the ice? And why aren't you frozen!" asked/demanded Sokka as he began poking him with his spear, but the kid swatted his spear away as he looked around. A deep growl startled both Sokka and Katara, but baldy just climbed back into the glacier and jumped down to land on a giant ball of white fur

"Appa! Are you alright? Wake up buddy" said baldy as he lifted the creature's eye lid. But got no response, so he tried waking it up by trying to lift his face. The siblings came around the corner of the iceberg and saw the kid messing with the creature and gasped when the furry animal licked the kid, raising him from the ground as he laughed

"You're ok!" said baldy as he hugged the snout

"What is that?" asked Sokka

"This is Appa, my flying bison," replied the kid as he turned around, but Sokka just had a deadpanned look in his face, clearly not believing him

"Riigghhht . . . and this is Katara, my flying sister," said Sokka sarcastily as he pointed with his thumb towards the girl next to him

The bison suddenly started make faces as his nose started to itch, and sneezed hard as green snot shot out of his nose. The Kid managed to dodge just in time as he ducked, but Sokka wasn't as fortunate as he got covered in mucus, and stood there grimacing as he rolled on the ground, trying to scrub off the snot off of him he ran his face through the snow.

"Don't worry it'll wash off," said the kid to Sokka as he pulled his hand away from his face, filled with snot while Katara covered her mouth with her hand as she giggled.

"Gross!" was all he said

"So do you guys live around here?" the bald boy asked.

Suddenly, Katara's brother jumped in between them with his spear pointed at him menacingly, "Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy beam of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Nation," Said Sokka as he eyed the kid cautiously

Further annoyed with her brother's stupidity, she just rolled her eyes as she pushed her brother back, "Oh yeah. . . He's a Fire Nation spy, you can tell by his appearance and the evil look in his eyes," Said Katara as she gestured toward the kid and baldy just grinned innocently while the blond tilted his head, eyes squinted, causing Sokka's eyebrow to twitch

"The paranoid one is my brother Sokka, you never told us your name,"

"I'm A-ah-ACHOO!" but before he could properly introduce himself, the bald kid sneezed, blowing a small cloud of snow as he flew into the sky, landing softly into the ground as he sniffed.

"I'm Aang."

"You just sneezed and flew 10 ft. in the air." Sokka stated incredulously as he lazily pointed at Aang

"Really? It felt higher than that."

Katara gasped, eyes squinted in surprise "You're an airbender!"

"Sure am!" grinned Aang

"Giant light beams… flying bison… airbenders… think I've got Midnight Sun Madness. I'm going home where things make sense," He turned around and realized that there was no way off the iceberg as he stupidly glazed into the distance.

"Well if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift." Aang airbent himself onto Appa's head.

"We'd love a ride thanks," Katara bowed.

"Oh no, I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster," Sokka protested.

"Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride? You know…before you freeze to death." Said the waterbender-in-training to Sokka, but before he started to say something, he suddenly stopped for he had no argument and gave up, stubbornly climbed on top of the bison

Crossing his arms in annoyance while Katara seemed excited, "Okay! First time flyers hold on tight!" Aang called, "Appa, yip yip!" Appa flapped his tail and jumped into the air . . . and only to lazily jump into the water, and started to swim.

"Wow . . . That was truly amazing," Sokka says full of sarcasm, rolling his eyes.

"Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky." Aang made a soaring motion with his head. "You'll see," He smiled back at them, particularly at Katara, staring at her brown hair, tanned skin, and ocean blue eyes.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" she asked, noticing his stare.

"Oh, I was smiling?" Aang asked, trying to play it off making Sokka groan while Katara turned around and glared at her brother.

They swam for a while till it finally turned dusk, and everyone had gone to sleep as they rest till they had reached the tribe.

-/ . \-

* Dreamscape*

_Everything was gray and pale browns. Thunder clashed as Aang woke up on top of Appa, struggling against Appa's reigns as the heavy rain crashing down.  
_

_''Aaahhh!''_

_Down they plummeted into the raging water as Aang screamed_

_They come up briefly for air, Appa groans as he struggled to get out of the water, but they are once again driven under the waver by the massive waves caused by the storm. As they drift downward, Aang drops Appa's reigns and begins to lose consciousness. Suddenly, Aang's eyes and markings glow white and puts his hands together and __the water around him and Appa starts to freeze . . . ._

_*End Dreamscape*_

"Aang! Aang, wake up!" Katara's voice sounds.

"Come on, get ready. We're in the village and everyone wants to meet you two." Said Katara as she was about to walk out of the tent, but stopped as she looked at Aang, while pulling on his clothes Katara looked at his tattoos running almost all over his body, from the arms and head down his back and legs.

Getting impatient, she grabbed Aang's hand and dragged him out of the tent and into the middle of the tribe. A group of people waiting for them outside of the tent, standing in front of a giant column of ice, standing in front of the group that mostly consisting of woman and children

"Aang, this is the village, entire village, Aang," Katara introduced him to the village while Aang simply bowed, but the villagers backed away a bit in small fright as the children scooted close to their mothers as they hugged their children close

Leaning closer to Katara, he whispered, "Why are they looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?" as he looked around himself to see find any snot

An old woman steeped up from the group, "No young one, we're just surprised surprised, for no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct until my granddaughter and grandson found you."

"Extinct?" Aang asked in surprise as he thought._ 'Extinct? What's she talking about?' _

Feeling a nudge at the back of his head, Aang looked around to see where it was coming from, but couldn't point it out, then he looked up behind the group, staring curiously and intensely at the ice pillar, and the feeling began to feel stronger, as if something was calling out to him as his eyes started to glaze. Nobody noticed it, but a small luminous glow of red appeared within the ice, giving a soft hum that only the bald kid could hear. Suddenly, he was snapped out of his trance as Katara had placed her hand on his shoulder, turning his direction back to the elderly woman

"This is my grandmother," Katara introduced the old woman.

"Call me Gran Gran," she simply said.

"What's with giant boulder of ice that's standing right in the middle of the village?" suddenly asked Aang without taking his eyes away from the pillar, surprising the elderly woman completely

"This tower of ice was brought to the Souther Tribe about 60 or so years ago when I was just a child, inside resides a man that is to be believed to be quite old like yourself, if not older, but despite the efforts of the waterbenders that used to live here, the ice could not be destroyed or turned to water, as if unconsciously, the man inside was the one maintaining it together, "said Kana as she turned back towards the pillar, continuing her story, "we believe that only the Avatar himself had the sufficient power in order to break the ice, but unfortunately, he disappeared a century ago with the rest of the air nomads," finished the elder as she sighed, closing her eyes, nobody noticing Aang flinching at the mention of the avatar

"Has anyone been able to find out who exactly is frozen inside?" Aang continued to asked, as he now turned his attention from the tower to the old woman

Shaking her head slowly, she replied, "no, we haven't, but before the Fire Nation raided our tribe, the captain that found the iceberg theorized that the person inside the ice was the one that started the cycle and brought bending to the world, due to the strange and glowing crimson patterns he described according to legend."

"Wait, what legend? And by what you mean 'the one who started the cycle'?" asked a now confused Aang, scratching his head

"She refers to the legend of the Crimson Avatar," clarified Katara, "also known as the Avatar of Four Dragons"

"Crimson Avatar? Never heard of him," exclaimed Aang

"I'm not surprised young one, the Avatar of Four Dragons is to be believed just a myth, an old tale passed down through the ages to tell the young ones. No one believes that he actually existed for there aren't any records about him and if there were, then most likely they were lost through time," explained Gran Gran, with everyone listening intensely to every word their elder said

Till out of the blue, Sokka snatched Aang's staff out his hand, distracting everyone out of their stupor, as he inspected the staff, "What is this? A weapon? You can't stab anything with this."

Aang used airbending to suck the staff of his hands and right back to him. "It's not used for stabbing. It's for airbending." he explained as he slammed the butt of the staff onto the ground, Orange fan-like wings popped out.

"Magic trick! Do it again!" A little girl clapped.

"Not magic, airbending," Aang corrected. "It lets me control the air currents around my glider and fly."

Sokka snorted and crossed his arms, "Last time I checked, humans can't fly."

Aang smirked "Check again," and he shot up into the sky.

Sailing through the air doing as he did twists and turns, loops and spins, much to the awe of the villagers. Aang being distracted by all the attention he was getting from the villagers, he failed to see the snow tower ahead as he crashed into it seconds later, getting his head stocked on the tower, trying to free himself as he tried to pull himself out, but only to fall out and collapsing onto the ground with the tower now leaning to the side

"My watchtower!" Sokka cried.

Katara walked towards Aang as he was somewhat buried in ice, and helped him up. "That was amazing," She said while Sokka was mourning his tower

"Great! He's an airbender, Katara's a waterbender, and together you can just waste time all day long," grumbled Sokka as he sulked

"You're a waterbender!" Aang exclaimed excitedly as he turned to Katara, but they were interrupted by the sibling's grandmother

"All right, no more playing, Katara you have chores," Gran-Gran interjected, causing Katara to sigh and walk away with her grandmother

"I can't believe it Gran Gran. I finally found a bender to teach me," said Katara with excitement

"Katara don't put all of your hopes in that boy," was Gran Gran's reply as she held her hands behind her

"But Aang's special, I can tell. I can sense he's full of wisdom," countered Katara as she made an optimistic face

But as soon as they looked over at Aang, with his tongue stuck to his staff due to the ice, they sweatdropped, "Sthee? Now my tongue ith thuck to my sthaff." Said the airbender only to have one child of the group to pull the staff, causing Aang to grimace a little and making the children start to laugh

-\ . /-

Back at the Fire Nation ship as they continued on its way deeper into Southern Water Tribe waters as the sun began to set, its orange red colors illuminating the skies. Zuko faced off against two of his firebending crew members on deck, while Iroh sat nearby, observing from a distance. "Again!" He says sternly, watching Zuko shot blasts of fire at them which they ducked under with ease. One retaliated with his own blast that Zuko ducked under then back flipped over a blast from the other soldier. While in mid-air Zuko punched and kicked blasts of fire at both of them, but they blocked it as he landed, facing his opponents.

Iroh sighed. "No! Power in firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles. The breath becomes energy in the body; the energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire." He shot a fire blast that stopped short of Zuko's face, "Get it right this time."

"Enough! I've been drilling this set all day. Teach me the next set; I'm more than ready,"

"No! You are impatient! You haven't even mastered the basics yet. Drill it again!" said Iroh harshly as he narrowed his eyes at his stubborn nephew

Zuko growled and turned with a spinning kick, blasting fire from his foot, hitting his target, despite the efforts of his sparring partner made in order to block it, "The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last airbender. He must be over a hundred years old; he's had a century to master the elements. I'll need more than basic firebending to defeat him!" exclaimed Zuko, only causing to Iroh frown.

"You WILL teach me the advanced set!" demanded the banished prince

Iroh hardened his eyes and took a deep sigh before he replied relentlessly, "Fine, but first I must finish my roast duck." Said the general as he pulled out a bowl and began eating happily

Zuko grimaced as he saw his uncle pigging out. '_How did he go from strict master to disgusting slob?' _thought Zuko as he slammed his forehead on his palm

-/ . \-

*Nighttime*

Aang and Katara were inside a tent, getting ready to go to bed talking about today's events, and curious still, Aang asked her a question that has been on his mind

"Katara?

"Yes, Aang"

"How is it that you know much about him, the crimson avatar I mean?" the question caught her a little off guard, her shoulders slumping down in sadness, "My mother used to tell me the story when I was a little girl, telling me how he single handily stopped the war and brought peace to the lands many centuries ago, only mysteriously disappear without as much a trace," paused Katara as she wipe a lone tear that appeared on her eye, as she remembered fondly when her mother would tuck her in bed and tell her the story

"I'm sorry to bring painful memories," mumbled Aang, noticing the sadness in her voice

"It's ok Aang," said the waterbender-in-training, smiling softly at him, "let's get some rest, k"

Aang just nodded his head as he jumped into the bed, and sleepily he yawned, closing his eyes, "night Katara"

"Night Aang," replied Katara as she walked out of the tent

-\ I /-

Later that night, Aang laid on his bed, restless as he could not shake off the feeling he felt when stared at the pillar, and somehow, it felt familiar, but he could not place a finger on it

'_Why does its presence feels so . . . familiar?_ 'Wondered Aang in his thoughts as he laid his head on his arms, but decided to find out on his own accord as he got up from his bed and got dressed, and walked out of his tent, standing right outside his tent with his sights right on the pillar.

As he started to walk down to the middle of the tribe, he couldn't help but notice how massive it was, stopping suddenly as he was now standing in front of the beam of ice.

"What are you?" muttered Aang as he once again looked up at the center of the pillar and the same humming sound he heard earlier came back, his eyes glazing as if he were hypnotized and slowly brought his hand up and placed it on the pillar, and slowly closed his eyes.

Unknowingly to Aang, Katara's grandmother, Gran Gran, was watching the young airbender with curiosity as he headed towards the center of the village, eyeing him as he just stared up above, and softly placing his hand onto the ice and at first, nothing happened, but to her shock, a soft crimson glow began to emit from within the ice, and at the same time, Aang's arrows began to glow softly as well, illuminating the village lightly along with the aurora that hovered with the night for a few minutes, till it finally stopped and Aang, quietly, went back to his tent

"_So . . . the Avatar has returned to us,_" thought Kana in shock, looking in the direction the airbender went, but then shifted her sights back to the pillar "_but what is it that makes you special to gain the Avatar's attention._"

-/ I \-

It was early morning of the next day, and Sokka was having a meeting with his 'soldiers,' training as to what to do when facing a Firebender

"Now men, it's important to show no fear when facing a firebender. In the Water Tribe, we fight till the last man standing, for without courage, how can we call ourselves men?" said Sokka as he walked side to side and once he finished, he turned to his soldiers . . . his 6-year-old soldiers.

"I gotta go pee." One boy announced, raising his hand

"Listen! Until your fathers return from the war, they're counting on you to be the men of the tribe, so no potty breaks!" exclaimed Sokka

"But I really have to go." The boy protested, holding it in really bad

Sokka sighed. "Okay . . . . Who else has to go?" and all the kids raised their hands.

Sokka slapped his forehead in frustration while thinking _'We're doomed.'_

"Have you seen Aang?" Katara asked. "Gran-Gran said he disappeared over an hour ago."

Aang crawled out a small igloo. "Wow. You can freeze anything in there."

Sokka groaned, "Katara get him out of here! This lesson is for warriors only!"

"Whee!" The children were using Appa's tail as a slide and landed on in a pile of snow, aggravating Sokka even furhter

"Stop! Stop it now!" Sokka glared angrily at the outsider, "What's wrong with you! We don't have time for fun and games with a war going on!"

"War?" asked Aang while he hopped down from Appa, "What are you talking about?"

"You're kidding, right?" deadpanned Sokka

Then Aang looked behind Sokka and exclaimed, "PENGUIN!" Said penguin jumped in surprise and waddled away with Aang zooming after it using airbending

The siblings stared at where they ran off to. "He's kidding right?"

-\ . /-

After Aang had gone to chase the penguin, Katara had ran after him, trying to get him to teach her waterbending, despite knowing that he could only bend air, deciding to give him a break, Katara showed him the way of catching a penguin by throwing him a fish and getting swarmed by them, and they sled across the snowy fields laughing along the way, till finally they reached an abandoned Fire Nation warship, stacked up in ice by the former waterbenders of the tribe.

Katara explained to him as to how it was one of the first attacks made by the fire nation when her grandmother was nothing but a child, and how it had become painful memory to the people of her tribe, and to herself, for it reminded them of what they lost, and how the Fire Nation took her mother away from her and her brother.

Aang, either by curiosity or stupidity, he walked near towards the ship, ignoring the cries of Katara of staying away, the airbender manages to convince her to come inside, and the two begin talk. Aang believing the talk of war on the four nations being false denies it as he tells Katara that he had friends all over the nations, including the Fire Nation. But reality hit him hard as Katara made him realized that he had been frozen for not just a few years, but for an entire century. Sadden at the time he had been suspended, Aang sits against the wall, with his friend telling him everything was going to be ok.

But fate had other plans, for as soon as they were about to leave, Aang had accidently stepped into a booby trap, and a gate closed the entrance of the ship, trapping them inside as a flare had shot up into the sky, exploding as it illuminated the area. The whole village saw the flare and knew it meant danger for a fire ship could have seen the flare and come into their direction.

Not far away, Prince Zuko saw the flare and using his telescope, he saw the Avatar escaping the ship, heading to the nearest village on the west, and headed straight for course

-/ . \-

Katara was worried that the whole village had seen the flare, and when they saw a the village ahead, sure enough all the villagers were standing outside the village awaiting for them. As soon as they approached the entrance of the village, most of the children ran out and gathered around Aang, but one person wasn't happy in seeing him

Sokka pointed at the airbender accusingly, "I knew it! You signaled the Fire Navy with that flare! You're leading them here!"

"He didn't do anything! It was an accident!" Katara said, defending him

"We were on the ship … and the booby trap … I set it off-"began Aang only to stop once the crowd began glaring at him

Gran Gran shook her head, sternly glaring at her granddaughter, "Katara you shouldn't have gone on that ship, you know it is forbidden! Now we could all be in danger!"

"Don't blame Katara," Aang spoke, "She warned me about the ship, but I didn't listen, and I convinced her to go in," Aang admitted.

He bowed, "I'm sorry."

"Aha!" Sokka shouted triumphantly, "The traitor confesses! Warriors away from the enemy," ordered Sokka, making the kids step away from Aang in sadness, while Sokka kept glaring resentfully at Aang, "The foreigner is banned from the village!"

"Sokka you're making a mistake," Katara argued.

"No! I'm keeping my promise to dad," Sokka retorted, "I'm protecting you from threats like him!"

"Aang is not our enemy!" Katara yelled, "Don't you see! He has brought us something we haven't had in a long time, fun."

Sokka scoffed, "Fun? We can't fight firebenders with fun."

'_You also can't fight them with 6-year-olds.'_ Katara thought bitterly.

Aang smiled. "You should try it sometime."

"Get out of our village!" Sokka yelled.

Turning towards her Gran Gran, she hoped that she would talk some sense into her brother, "Grandmother, please, don't let Sokka do this." Katara pleaded.

"Katara, you knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right. I think it is best if the airbender leaves," finalized the elder of the village, while thinking "_Even if he is the Avatar, I cannot risk the safety of the village_"

Katara was stunned at her grandmother's response; couldn't they see that Aang wasn't dangerous? She was angry. Angry at Sokka for being stupid and tyrannical, angry at her grandmother for being so closed minded.

"_Well if Sokka could make a decision like this, so can I_" thought Katara

"Fine!" she screamed. "Then I'm banished as well! C'mon Aang, let's go." She said as she took him by the arm and walked off towards Appa.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka questioned, shocked at his sister's actions

"To find a waterbender! He's taking me to the North Pole!" she yelled back.

Aang blinked. "I am?" then smiled brightly. "Great!"

Sokka frowned at this, refusing to believe that Katara was taking the stranger's side; she wouldn't do that to her own peope, would she? "Katara, you wouldn't choose them over your tribe? Your own family, would you?" Sokka voiced his thoughts out loud.

This made Katara stop, _'I don't know. Would I?'_ she thought.

Sensing the inner struggle she had, Aang intervened, "Katara, I don't want to come between you and your family," Aang said then walked off towards Appa.

"So you're leaving the South Pole?" Katara asked sadness evident in her voice, "This is goodbye?"

"Afraid so, but thanks for penguin sledding with me," Aang said.

"Where will you go?" Katara asked.

"Guess I'll go back home, look for the airbenders," then a thought hit him, making him shudder, "Wow, I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. Not looking forward to that."

"It was nice meeting everyone," Aang said to the village

"Let's see your bison fly now air boy," Sokka sneered.

"Come on Appa, you can do it. Yip yip!" Appa groaned, but only stood up.

Sokka snorted, "I thought so."

Before Appa began to walk out of the village, a little girl wailed and ran up next to Katara. "Don't go, I'll miss you." She said with small tears forming at the corner of her eyes

Aang looked at her sadly, "I'll miss you too."

Aang looked at Katara who looked back at him with sad eyes. Turning away, Aang snapped the reigns and left the village. Watching till Aang was out of sight, the little girl walked back into the village sadly, next to the saddened kids.

Gran Gran walked up to her granddather, "Katara, you'll feel better after you-"

"You happy now?" Katara cut her off as she turned angrily, small tears on her eyes as well, "There goes my one chance of becoming a waterbender!" she stormed off, leaving Gran Gran feeling guilty.

"All right. Ready our defenses! The Fire Nation could be on our shores any moment!" Sokka yelled to his 'troops'.

"But I gotta-"

"And no potty breaks!"

-/ . \-

Long after Aang had left the village, Sokka had gone to his tent, for if he was going to fight the Fire Nation; he was going to fight, dressed as a true water tribe warrior. Putting on his toughest leathers armor, pulled on his gloves, tightened his tunic, and put on black, white, and grey war paint on his face, he was ready for battle and a small breeze swept inside the tent, making the candle light to flicker, meaning that the enemy was nearby

Realizing this, Sokka got up and prepared to meet them head on

-\ . /-

At the war ship; with the help of attendants, Zuko was fitted into his armor, he prepared for he was taking no chances with this battle, due to who his opponent was. A helmet with a flame emblem on the front was placed on his head. Done with his preparation, Zuko left his chambers, ready to face to was to be expected to be the battle of his life, unfortunately, little does he know how sadly disappointed he was going to be.

-/ . \-

Sokka stood on top of the ice wall serving as a lookout, expecting the Fire Nation to arrive at anytime, and he was disappointed. Suddenly, everything started to shake as a rumbling noise boomed across the village, the villagers looking up in alarm as parts of the ice wall began to crack and crumbled down, along Sokka's watchtower.

"Ah man . . ." Sokka moaned seeing his tower being demolished

A huge shadow could be seen through the mist, approaching the village fast, "Ah shit," Sokka's voice cracked, watching the ship break through the frozen waters, cracking the ice even further all the way into the village. Katara was about to run for shelter, but saw a kid had fallen and being in danger for the kid was in the way of the splitting ice, running back to get the kid, just barely rescuing him from the cracking ice. Reaching for a tent, she put him inside and turned to her brother.

Sokka was still on the wall with his club raised high, like he was going to attack the ship with it.

"Sokka get out of the way!" he heard Katara scream, '_trust me, I want to_' were his thoughts, but his pride, determination, fear, and stupidity kept him there.

The ship finally reached the wall, causing it to fall back and somehow the part Sokka was standing on stayed intact, sliding downhill in front of the ship. The bowsprit opened down with screech almost crushing Sokka, who barely moved out the way.

The Steam was clearing up, revealing Zuko and several Fire Nation soldiers in tow, walking down the now gangplank. Standing halfway down the gangplank, Zuko scanned the crowd, looking for someone who looked like, well, Avatarish.

Meanwhile, Sokka got his bearings straight and charged at Zuko with a war cry. Zuko measily scoffed and easily kicked the club away from Sokka's hand and then kicked Sokka in the side of his head, sending headfirst into the snow with his legs wiggling in the air, causing entire the tribe gasped in fear at how easily Sokka was beaten.

They stepped back as the soldiers reached them, with Zuko still maintaining his sights at the crowd, made of nothing but women and children.

"Where are you hiding him?" Zuko questioned, causing the villagers to get confused and not knowing how to respond. Getting a little frustrated, the scarred prince reached out to grab Gran Gran out of the crowd, "He'd be about this age, Master of all elements," and still, they had no idea as to what he was talking about. He then pushed Gran Gran back into Katara's arms, and let loose a wave of fire over their heads, making the villagers cringe in fear even more

"I know you're hiding him!" Zuko yelled.

Recovering from the simple beating he received, Sokka picked up his club and charged at Zuko once again with another war cry. Zuko just mentally sighed. _'Stupid water peasant.'_ He thought while ducking under Sokka and flipped him over his head, and fired a blast of fire at Sokka. Rolling out of the way, Sokka reached for his boomerang and threw it at the Fire Prince; Zuko just narrowly avoided being hit in the head with it, gritting his teeth in anger

From the crowd, a little boy held a spear and tossed it to Sokka while crying, "Show no fear!" Sokka and for a third time, he charged at Zuko with no more success than the previous times as Zuko just easily broke the head of the spear with his forearms and then snatched it from Sokka, bonking him the head with the butt of the spear several times before knocking Sokka down.

Sadly, Zuko doesn't have eyes behind his head, for if he did, he would have noticed that the boomerang came back, hitting him in the back of his head, knocking his helmet around his face in the process. After Zuko readjusted his helmet, he glared down at Sokka with balled fists and made two fire daggers form at the bottom of his fists

But, before he could do anything, Aang came out of nowhere as he slid from behind on top of a penguin and swept the firebender off his feet with using his staff, making Zuko land face first into the snow, with his butt in the air and his helmet landing on top of his ass, making him look like a jackass. Still sledding, Aang slid by the cheering children, covering them in snow in the process. The kids stopped their cheering, annoyed, but then started it up again, till Aang slid to a stop and was pushed off by the miffed penguin.

"Hey Katara, hey Sokka," Aang greeted them, ignoring the firebenders completely

"Hi Aang, thanks for coming." Sokka thanked dryly

Zuko got up with snow on his face and turned around to face Aang as he went into his firebending stance, ready for battle

Aang adopted a serious look on his face and held his staff in front of him.

They begin to close in on him, but Aang acted quickly as he sent blasts of air to the men on right, and then sent a blast of air to the men on his left, and lastly, blasting Zuko as well, but he managed to hold his ground, shielding his face from the wind.

''Looking for me?'' asked Aang as he resumed his stance, circling each other

Zuko realizing who he was, he looked at the bald kid incredulously, "You're the Airbender?" Zuko asked, "You're the Avatar!" asked with clearly surprise in his voice, surprising the village as everyone's eyes widened.

"Aang," Katara gasped.

"No way," Sokka muttered.

Zuko glared at Aang as they continued to circle each other, "I've spent years preparing for this encounter, training, meditating, but you're just child!" Zuko shouted.

Aang relaxed his stance. "Well you're just a teenager." he said with a shrug.

Zuko fired several blasts of fire at the airbender, but Aang countered as he twirled his staff in front of him. Some of the fire, however, reached over the villager's heads, causing them to cry out in fear. Hearing their cries, Aang turned back toward the villagers and realized that if this continued, someone innocent could get hurt

"If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?" Aang asked, signifying his surrender.

Zuko never had any intentions of harming anyone, well, after seeing there were no threats. He wasn't above threatening and scaring women and children, but he wouldn't harm defenseless people, Zuko simply nodded and a soldier took his staff and Aang was lead to the ship.

Katara rushed forward. "No Aang! Don't do this!" she cried.

Aang smiled at her, "Don't worry Katara, it'll be okay," he said, but impatiently was pushed forward, "Take care of Appa for me until I get back."

"Head a course to the Fire Nation!" Zuko bellowed "I'm going home," finished saying as he began to walk into the ship

Aang looked back at the tribe with a sad smile as the gangplank rose, his smile dropping further when he saw Katara's eyes began to water. He knew his decision to give himself up was best for the village, but after seeing Katara shed tears for him, he didn't felt as confident about his decision. The bowsprit completely shut and the ship started to depart.

A few hours had passed since Aang was taken, and the mood of the villages was somber, for not only did they banish the Avatar from their village earlier, but they were also helpless when the Fire Nation took the world's last hope for peace. Now, ashamed, sad, and hopeless, the villagers wordlessly started repairing the village.

Out by the water's edge Katara stared at the horizon while Sokka was carrying some materials behind her. She has standing there for a while hoping to see Aang glide back laughing and unharmed, but a girl could only wait for so long so she decided it was time to take action.

"We have to go after that ship Sokka; Aang saved our tribe, now we have to save him." Katara declared.

"Katara I-"

"Why can't you realize that he's on our side? If we don't help him, no one will. I know you don't like Aang, but we owe him and I-"

"Katara!" Sokka yelled, tired of hearing his sister's rant. "Are you gonna talk all day or are you coming with me?" he gestured to a canoe all set to go.

Katara gasped happily and hugged him, "Sokka!" _'I don't give him enough credit.'_

"Get in; we're going to save your boyfriend,"

Katara blushed, and began to rant at her brother, "He's not my-"

"Whatever," Sokka cut her off, shrugging his shoulders in indifference

"What do you two think you're doing?" interrupted a voice, surprised they turned around to see Gran Gran, giving them a stern look before smiling at them, "You'll need these. You have a long journey ahead of you," She said while handing them a blue bundle, shocking the two teens.

"It's been so long since I've had hope, but you brought it back to life, my little waterbender." Gran Gran hugged Katara then turned to Sokka, "And you, my brave warrior," Sokka stood tall expecting some sort of praise. "Be nice to your sister."

Sokka deflated and barely returned his grandmother's hug, "Yeah. Okay Gran."

"Aang is the Avatar, he's the world's only chance. You both found him for a reason. Now your destinies are intertwined with his."

Katara looked at the canoe and sweat dropped, "There's no way we're gonna catch up to a war ship with this," she said incredulously, and like a prayer answered from above, Appa appeared from over a hill with a roar.

"Appa!" exclaimed the waterbender as she ran happily towards the sky bison.

"You just love taking me out of my comfort zone, don't ya?" Sokka deadpanned

-\ . /-

Meanwhile, far away from the south pole, at a Fire Nation naval base, a tall commander wearing the traditional fire nation uniform, his black hair was placed in a topknot and thick sideburns on both sides of his face was in his office, standing, looking at the map that had the insignia of fire on almost every corner of the map as he stood in front of it, chuckling in arrogance

"Soon, this war will be over and the Fire Nation will reign supreme," said the man, only to be interrupted by running steps coming from the corridor

"Commander Zhao!" a fire nation soldier rushed into the quarters, gasping for air as he saluted his higher up

"What is it?" the commander turned towards his subordinate, "Sir, the spy we have placed in the ship belonging to Prince Zuko has reported to us that the Avatar is indeed alive and seen at the Southern Water tribe!" reported the soldier

Narrowing his eyes, he glared at him, "are you sure?" only for the man to nod in affirmative

Turning back towards the map, the commander was contemplating on this new piece of information and without turning, he gave his order;

"Take a fleet of 7 ships, and head towards the Southern tribe to retrieve the Avatar, dead or alive," slowly turning his eyes at the soldier, he continued, "and if the villagers retaliate in capturing the avatar, burn village to the ground."

"Sir, what if the prince intervenes?" asked the soldier

Zhao stayed quiet for a few minutes till a small smirk appeared on his face, "if he interferes with the mission, then eliminate him as well"

The soldier quietly saluted and went out his way to prepare for departure, leaving the commander by himself, chuckling darkly as he stared at the area that was the southern pole

-/ . \-

On the deck of Zuko's ship, the prince and the avatar faced each other while Aang was still captive and Zuko held his staff at hand, inspecting it, "This will make an excellent gift for my father," then he looked at Aang, "but I suppose you wouldn't know of fathers, being raised by monks," Aang just glared at Zuko, watching as the scarred prince flanked the staff at his Uncle as he stood guard along with his captors

"Take the Avatar to the prison hold, and take this to my quarters," ordered Zuko as he walked away towards his quarters

Iroh just turned to the guard next to him and handed him the staff, "Hey, you mind taking this to his quarters for me?" It was more of a command than a question.

Aang looked back at his staff as he was being lead down to the lower levels of the ship. Aang looked at the guards, '_One in front, two behind him, not a problem_' he thought, "So…I guess you never fought an airbender before. I bet I can take you all on with my hands tied behind my back."

"Silence!" barked the guard.

They reached a door and stopped for the lead guard to unlock it. Taking advantage while they were distracted, Aang took a deep breath and quickly exhaled, blowing a strong current of wind that slammed the guard in front of him into the door, knocking him out and sent him flying into the guard from behind, flying down the hallway as they landed on the stairs. The guard guarding his back took most of the brunt of the impact, and Aang hopped off and ran up deck. Once upstairs, Aang delivered a kick to send an air blast to the door, opening it as he dashed inside

The Guard on the floor finally recovered and got up, dashing quickly upstairs, warning everyone

"The Avatar has escaped! Find him!" a guard yelled.

-\ . /-

Sokka sighed as he kept trying over and over again in making Appa fly, "Go…Fly…Soar," For the past ten minutes since he and his sister had been riding on Appa, the 'flying' bison.

Sokka rolled his eyes in annoyance, '_More like Appa the normal bison._'

"Please Appa, we need your help, Aang needs your help," said Katara as she sweet talked to the bison

Meanwhile, Sokka continued to try, "Up . . . Ascend . . . Elevate,"

Katara shot Sokka a look, "Sokka doesn't believe you can fly, but I do Appa," reaching for his head, Katara rubbed his head gently, "Come on, don't you wanna save Aang?" Appa groaned.

Sokka then thought of something as he put his hand on his chin, "What was it that kid said?" he asked himself. "Yee-ha? Hup hup? Wahoo? Yip yip?" and the saddle began to shake as Appa groaned and flapped his tail, slowly climbing into the sky.

"You did it Sokka!" Katara cheered, but Sokka was even more excited.

"He's flying! He's flying! Katara he's-" he turned to his sister, but noticed Katara's smug look and calmed down, "I mean, big deal, he's flying," he couldn't help but smile though.

-/ . \-

Aang ran down another hallway, constantly looking behind for any pursuers. '_Please don't let me run into anybody._' Aang thought but his luck wasn't as good as he turned the corner and ran into three guards. '_Dammit!_'

Smiling weakly, Aang asked them, "By chance have you seen my staff around?" The response he got were spears raised at him. Using airbending to juice his speed, Aang ran past them, running along the walls, ceiling and underneath them, "Thanks anyway." He called back.

Dumbly, they looked at the trail of dust he left behind as they sweatdropped

Aang continued his search as he jumped into another hallway occupied by a firebender soldier. The soldier sent a blast of fire at him and in one swift move Aang jumped over the fire stream and the fire soldier, cutting the rope on his hands on one of the spikes on his helmet on mid air, knocking the soldier by bringing him down

Aang looked in several rooms in search of his staff, opening door after door, till he finally reached into another room and cringed when he saw it was occupied. He relaxed slightly when he realized the old man was asleep and gently shut the door while quietly apologizing to the sleeping man.

Checking the few more rooms that were left, but in his haste to get out, Ang almost passed an open room that held what he was looking for, too bad he didn't know it was a trapped as the door was shut by the prince himself just as Aang had turn around to walk out of the room, staring into the eyes of an angry Zuko who got into his stance

"Looks like I underestimated you," Was all Zuko said before letting loose several blasts of fire Aang dodged around.

Rolling into a corner Aang tried to catch his breath but was forced to dodge more fireballs as he rolled under Zuko, getting behind him and barely putting one hand faced up on the prince's back, circle-walking to stay behind Zuko

Zuko growled as he was unable to land any hits and jumped away to get some distance, '_Close combat isn't gonna work,_' he thought, so he fired more blasts to maintain a distance, but Aang bent the air away from the fire, making the flames die out. Dodging another fire blast, Aang jumped into the air and formed an air scooter, riding all around the room dodging every blast that prince sent, frustrating him even further, until the prince sent a kick into the airball and dispersed it, send Aang into the wall

Getting up in a defense stance, Aang looked around the room in order to use against the prince, and noticed the mattress laying next to Zuko, and with airbending Aang slammed the mattress, along with Zuko, into the wall and then into the ceiling, allowing the airbender a chance to escape. Once Zuko has landed on the ground, he looked up only to find the Avatar gone

Opening the hatch to the bridge Aang poked his head out to see if the coast was clear. There was the helmsman, but beyond him was his way out to freedom. Rushing through the room to jump out from the observation deck, Aang opened his glider as he was in mid air

Unfortunately Zuko was very stubborn as he wasn't done with him as he jumped off the observation deck as well and grabbed onto Aang's foot. Aang being unable to support the weight of he and Zuko, went crashing down into the deck. Slowly both of them got up and resumed their stance, ready to renew their battle, only to hear a growl from a distance took their attention away from each other and looked up, "What is that?" Zuko asked out loud.

"Appa!" Aang exclaimed, noticing as the bison got closer, he was able to make out Katara and Sokka in Appa's saddle.

With his distraction with Appa, Zuko took advantage as he almost roasted Aang with a fire blast, but Aang was able to narrowly blocked the blast by twirling his staff and jumped back to avoid another blast and almost fell overboard.

Zuko kept firing several blasts of fire at him, one of the blasts managed to knock Aang's staff away from him. Having no choice, Aang jumped out the way of another blast of fire and landed on the rail, not noticing Zuko kicking one more ball of fire at him, and this time the airbender wasn't able to dodge it in time as he was sent over the rail and into the water unconscious

"Aang! Noo!" Katara cried. Aang was the Avatar; He was supposed to bring peace to the world, not die like this.

"Aang!"

Beside her Sokka looked equally shocked. He may have not liked the kid that much, but he still didn't deserve that, _'He saved our village, and he lost his life doing it. No one should have to die that young.'_

Zuko's eyes widened when the boy fell overboard. That wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to capture the Avatar, not kill him, not everything was fruitless, even if he told his father that he killed the Avatar, he doubted his father would believe him and let him back home, making Zuko trembl, in rage.

-\ . /-

Aang in his unconscious state, could feel he was in water but couldn't do anything about it. He felt tired and numb.

"Aang! Noo!"

'_Katara? That's right she was on Appa.'_

"Aang!"

'_She's still in danger!_

"Aang!" Panic rose in Aang

And then it happened . . .

Aang snapped his eyes open, and the arrow tattoos along with his eyes began to glow white.

-/ . \-

Back at Sokka and Katara's home, the tattoos of the man began to glow inside the pillar, shining brightly through the ice as it caught the attention of every person in the village

"_What are you . . .?_" thought Gran Gran as she stared from the entrance of her hut

-\ . /-

Fully awake, the Avatar began to swim back to the surface as he twirled his body around, surrounding himself in a whirlpool

At the surface, everyone jumped in surprise as a cyclone of water shot out of the sea and at the top was Aang with his eyes and tattoos glowing, looking directly at Zuko as he looked back at Aang in fear as he towered over the ship

Landing on deck, Aang moved his hands around, bending the water to form a circular shield around him, unleashing it on everyone on the ship, knocking the soldiers away and Zuko out of the ship

Watching from Appa's saddle, Sokka and Katara looked on in shock, "Did you see what they just did?" Katara squeaked.

"Now that was some waterbending . . . " Sokka exclaimed

Exhausted, Aang collapsed from using the Avatar State.

Once Appa landed close to Aang, Katara jumped off and rushed over towards Aang.

Katara shook Aang as she sat him up, "Aang, are you alright?" Aang groaned and looked at the gathered people.

"Hey Katara, hey Sokka, thanks for coming." he smiled tiredly.

Sokka smirked, "Well I couldn't let you hog all the glory."

Realizing that he was empty handed, Aang looked towards his right. "I dropped my staff."

"I'll get it." Sokka volunteered and ran off to get the staff, but just as Sokka picked it up, another hand grabbed it, freaking him out as he looked up, and realizes that it was Zuko. Growling, Sokka tries to pull it away but Zuko wouldn't let go, and after a short game tug-o-war battle for the staff, Sokka decided to get payback and used the staff to poke Zuko in the head, in the same way Zuko did to him back at his village, making Zuko lose his grip, almost falling into the water but managed to grab on to the anchor chain.

"That's from the Water Tribe!" Sokka yelled triumphantly.

Katara just finished helping Aang jump onto Appa when she saw the guards advance towards them. Moving her hands up, She pulled a stream of water from the puddles on the deck, scaring the guards a bit in an attempt to try to do what Aang just did, she flung her arms forward, but the water flew backwards and the water behind her froze

"Katara!" she heard Sokka yell, turning back, she looked behind her and saw that she froze her brother's feet to the ship. The soldiers feeling confident continued in their advance, thinking she was no threat. Katara turned around and repeated what she just did hoping for the same results; the sound of water freezing was heard. She turned around and gave a mental cheer at her handiwork; the soldiers were frozen in place with their hands out

Katara climbed on Appa and shouted at her brother, "Hurry up Sokka!"

Sokka was chipping away the ice around his feet with his boomerang. _'It's your fault that I'm stuck, I didn't ask for all this flying and magic; I'm just a guy with a boomerang.'_ He got himself free and ran up Appa's tail. "Yip yip! Yip yip!" Sokka cried.

Iroh came out half dazed as he still was rubbing his eyes and fully awaken when he saw the giant mammal fly into the air, "Huh?" he said as he surveyed the chaos on the deck; the unconscious firebenders, the frozen guards, and his nephew struggling to get back onboard. Rushing quickly towards his nephew, helping Zuko get back on the deck

"Shoot them down!" ordered Zuko, but everyone was incapacitated, leaving it up to Iroh and Zuko, as they went through a series of turns and launched a large ball of fire at Appa.

Noticing the giant ember coming straight at them, Aang jumped to the back of the saddle and with a swing of his staff he released an arc of wind that deflected the fireball into an ice cliff, causing a large amount of ice fell on the ship and thus, preventing it from going any further.

The kids laugh in success as they got away.

Zuko glared at them, then at the snow.

"Good news for the Fire Lord, the nation's greatest threat is just a child," Iroh commented.

Zuko just glared at the retreating form of the bison as the Avatar continued to fly away

"I don't know how that's possible and I don't know if that makes my task easier or harder but I know I won't underestimate him again, dig this ship out and follow them," ordered the prince as he turned to his crew, but sweat dropped when he saw that half were frozen and the other half was thawing them out with small flames. "…as soon as you're finished with that." He finished lamely looking back at the horizon

-/ . \-

The sun was setting and they were still flying quietly on Appa, Katara decided now was the time to ask questions. Aang was sort of sulking as he held his knees close to his chest

"How did you do that?" she asked while scooting closer to Aang, "With the water? It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

Aang looked sideways at her, "I don't know. I just sort of…did it."

The two stayed silent for while, till Katara asked questions again

"Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?"

"Because . . . I never wanted to be," was his reply, looking away

"But Aang," Katara continued, "the world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and end the war"

Aang looked down, sulking even further, "And how am I supposed to do that?"

"Well, according to legend, you first need to master water, then earth, then fire, right?"

"That's what the monks told me."

"Well if you go to the North Pole, you can master waterbending."

Smiling, Aang said, "We can learn it together."

Katara turned to look at her brother, "and you're still coming, right? There'll be plenty of firebender heads to knock on the way," she said in a sing song voice.

Sokka smiled a bit, "I'd like that. I'd really like that."

"Then we're in this together," Katara declared.

"All right, but before I learn waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to," Aang pulled out and opened a map, "here, here, and here." he pointed to several places.

"What's there?" Katara asked.

"Here we'll ride the hopping llamas. Then waaay over here we'll surf on the backs of giant koi fish. Then back over here we'll ride the hog monkeys. They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun," Aang smiled brightly at them.

The siblings looked at each other, then back at the map, then at Aang, then back at each other.

"Sounds cool," said Sokka shrugging his shoulders as he leaned back against the saddle and drifted off to sleep

Turning back towards the direction of the Southern Water Tribe, Katara could not help but feel a sense of dread on the pit of her stomach, a feeling that kept growing stronger and stronger the further they flew away

"_I hope everyone stays safe,_" thought Katara worriedly

-\ . /-

2 weeks have passes since the Avatar had awaken from his slumber and journeyed towards the North Pole in order to master waterbending, but not before he made a pit stop at the Southern Air Temple, his home that he had not seen for a century.

The siblings didn't know how to break it to him that the airbenders had been eradicated and that he was the last one, but for his sake, they pretended to ignore the reality that awaited him as Aang continued to show them around his home

Meanwhile, at the South Pole a small fleet of seven fire nation fleets approached their destination as they broke through the ice, the fall of black snow announcing their arrival

-/ . \-

Children were playing in the snow, laughing and giggling as they threw snow balls at each other. One little girl was hiding behind the pillar as she kneeled down and scoop a bit of snow in her hand, gently cupping it into a ball till out of nowhere, a black flake landed on the ball

"Huh?" said the little girl as she looked up and saw a small hail of black snow befallen the village

The villagers stopped their activities as they too noticed the black ashes, and grew afraid, for when black snow fell, it only meant that the Fire Navy was nearby, and began to run into hiding.

Gran Gran felt an intense heat coming from above, looking up, she saw that the fire Nation begun their attack as they catapulted their boulders of fire, crashing into the village as it destroyed anything in its path. Demolishing homes, supplies and the beam itself as it crumbled and landed on the ground with thunderous thud while two of the navy ships came crashing through the walls of the village, and quickly lowered the bowsprit

Firebenders marched down the plank and rounded the villagers near the destroyed pillar, threatening them to kill them if they tried anything. The captain of the fleet walked in front of the villagers, staring impassively at the group

"I'm simply going to ask you once, fail to cooperate, and I'll destroy this village," informed the captain to their captives, watching as they shook genuine fear

"Where is the Avatar? I know he has been hiding in this place!" demanded the captain

"H-He left t-the village already," a young woman replied with evident fear in her voice, but her only response was a blast of flames hitting and scorching the tent next to her to the ground, scaring the children as they began to cry in the arms of their mothers while they were shielded by said parent

Gran Gran watched with fear at the burning tent as she slowly backed away from the fire till she hit something solid. Turning around, she saw that she had backed up into what was left of the ice pillar, but surprisingly, the chamber where the person was held was still intact without damage

Dropping to her knees, the elderly woman placed her hands on top of the ice and pleaded with her life, "_Please, save us! Don't let the children of this village die in cold blood,_" Gran Gran cried in her mind as she lowered her head

-\ . /-

Back at the Southern temple, Aang was chasing a lemur through the temple as he came down from the hill and walked through a tarp, suddenly slowing his chase as he did not expected to see what the room contained. Gasping in shock as he found the remains of many firebenders, lying across the room, half buried in snow inside the room.

"F-firebenders? They were h-here?" muttered the young Avatar

Aang inspected the room further as he walked further down, and stopped completely as his body was frozen numbed and breath caught in his throat

In the back of the room, illuminated by what little sunlight passed through, was the skeleton of an airbender monk, the robes of the air nomad were old and damaged as they were covered in dried blood but what shocked him to the very core was that he knew who this corpse belong to, for he could immediately identify the specific wooden necklace that hanged around the neck of the corpse.

"Gyatso," muttered Aang as he fell to his knees and began to sob. Grief, anger, sadness, guilt, rage, and hopelessness raged wildly throughout his body as he cried for the death of his people.

Running footsteps were approaching as the person came through the curtains, revealing Sokka as he claimed that he would not eat the lemur, only to notice that Aang had finally discovered the truth of his people's demise. Feeling sorry for the kid, the warrior slowly walked towards the grieving boy;

"I'm sorry Aang, but everything will be alright. Come on, let's get out of here," Sokka said softly as he placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder, but in his rage, Aang's tattoos started to glow as he tapped into the Avatar state, causing Sokka to gasp as he was sent back by the air currents that Aang had unleashed, forming a dome of air around him as he slowly levitated off the ground. Sokka slowly got up as he held on and recoiled at the sight of his friend.

-/ . \-

Around the rest corners of the world where a temple of the Avatar was located, a miracle began to happen as each statue or murals of the Avatar began react to Aang's anger;

In an Earth Kingdom Temple, a priest was praying in front of a mural of several of the most famous Earth Kingdom Avatar, including Kyoshi, when their eyes started to glow gold

At the North Pole, the Water shamans and its people of the Nothern Water Tribe watched as a blue light began to flare brightly above the temple.

At the fire temple in the crescent moon island, The Fire Sages stared at the statue of Avatar Roku, watching as his eyes glow. Making some of them grow amazed, confused, frightened, and, for a few, hopeful.

"Send word to the Fire Lord immediately, the Avatar has returned!" ordered the oldest of the sages

Bringing hopes of peace as the statues of previous Avatars continued to glow

-\ . /-

Back at the South Pole, Gran Gran still held her hands onto the ice, in hopes that the person or spirit within had heard her prayer, but the captain's patience had finally worn out

"You all refuse to speak?" asked the captain again and no one dared to speak, "So be it, by the decree of Fire Lord Ozai, I sentence each and every one of you to death," shouted the captain as the firebenders rounded and cornered the villagers, getting into their stances, forming embers in their hands as they prepared to unleash all of their fire, "soldiers . . . exterminate them"

At their order, everything began to go in slow motion as they shoot currents of flames at the villagers, causing the mothers to shield their children from harm, the screams filling the air as they closed their eyes.

Gran Gran, slowly looked up as she resigned to her fate and stared into the ice, looking directly at the person within . . . Only to catch her breath in her throat as the person's eyes snapped open, and began to glow a deep crimson. Tattoos on his arms and chest appeared with the glow, and everything began to tremble as the ice began to slowly break till it finally shattered completely, sending a shockwave so strong that it disperses the oncoming flames and sent the firebenders back while the captain and everyone else shielded their eyes as it spread out throughout the village while a beam of light coursed to the sky, illuminating it with its crimson glow

-/ . \-

At the land of the fire nation, inside a massive volcano resided a small city with a palace in the middle, and on a balcony that was on top of the palace; a raven haired firebender wearing a black robe with the insignia of a golden flame in the front stood, staring passively at the direction of the South Pole, smirking darkly as he barely felt the rise of power due to the distance

"_After ten thousand years, you're still as powerful, Namikaze,_" thought the man in silence, watching as the sky in the South Pole turned crimson from afar

"So after many centuries have passed . . . you have finally awakened," muttered the man as his eyes changed color from black to red with a ring around the iris, holding three tomoes in each eye

-\ . /-

As the light began to dim till it finally disappeared, the captain and Gran Gran turned forward while slowly uncovering their eyes till they were able to focus their eye sight to catch a glimpse of who or what radiated such power, and when they both saw the source of such power, they stared in shock at the being that was in front of them

A tall fair-skinned male that looked to be on his early twenties with his eyes shadowed by his spiky blond hair and jaw-length bangs framing either side of his face stood in between the villagers and the firebenders. Wearing torn white pants with black metal bracers on the arms and legs with matching color shoes, but what had the village's elder captivated were the weird tattoos that framed the young man's body. A double headed arrow pointing downward on his chest with two small lines going downward on the sides of his pectorals, a small circle on each shoulder with a scoop underneath it, and a spiral tattoo on each forearm, starting from his wrist to halfway up his forearm, all giving a crimson glow, but no matter what, she could not take off her eyes away from the boy's back. Four dragons tangled with each other, looking as if they were ascending upwards were etched on his back as they also gave a crimson glow, and realization hit her as to who he was

"It can't be . . ." muttered Kana as she stepped back in shock

"Who are you!" demanded the captain as he got ready into his stance with his left hand forward with in a chop position, while his right hand was held in a closed fist cocked close to his frame as he readied himself to attack the unknown intruder, his underlings following suit

The blond haired man just barely raised his head, and glared intensely at them, scaring them as they stared into his slitted eyes with red irises . . . . .

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TBC . . .


	5. Book I Chapter 3

Thank you everyone for the reviews, but before we head into the chapter, there is a couple of things I would like to clarify from the previous chapter and for the coming chapters;

I waited till the end of the chapter for Naruto to appear due to the series when Aang grieves for his people, anything related to the avatar begins to glow, and Naruto, being the father of the very first Avatar of the cycle, should be affected as well, and causing him to awaken from his slumber.

As for when meets the gang, well I cannot tell you for that would spoil the story, my apologies

Azula is a wild card as of this moment, but I do have my own plans for her, and everything will be revealed in due time

(A/N): explanation at the end of the chapter every time this is posted

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or Avatar: the Last Airbender

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Previously on Avatar of the Four Dragons:

_Naruto clashed both of his fists together and caused a tornado to form under water, and tried to separate the water but it backfired as the water itself began to freeze around him_

-/ . \-

"_The captain that found the iceberg theorized that the person inside the ice was the one that started the cycle and brought bending to the world, due to the strange and glowing crimson patterns he described according to legend."_

"_Wait, what legend? And by what you mean 'the one who started the cycle'?" asked a now confused Aang, scratching his head_

"_She refers to the Crimson Avatar," clarified Katara, "also known as the Avatar of Four Dragons"_

-\ . /-

_The blond haired man just barely raised his head, and glared intensely at them, scaring them as they stared into his slitted eyes with red irises . . . . ._

**. . . . .**

**. . . .**

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**.**

Rebirth of a Legend;

The Wrath of a Dragon

-\ II /-

\ . /

The captain, along with his forces continued to glare at the person that was in front of them, raw red energy dancing around him like a cloak with his markings glowing like a hot sun. Unnerving them, scaring them as the intruder continued to glare at them with those glowing, blood red eyes, seeing the raw power that was ready to be unleashed through those eyes, but suddenly, the cloak that surrounded him disappeared as the blond man slowly fell to one knee, trying to support himself with his left hand placed onto the snowed ground, panting hard as he felt disoriented, the tattoos stopped their glow, becoming nothing more than black markings on his body

Then the gears inside his head began to turn as the captain remembered that the unknown person had just escaped from his frozen prison, and his body wasn't accustomed just yet to moving on his own, making this the perfect chance to attack since the intruder wouldn't have a chance of defeating him, especially when he had more than two hundred men with him, there was no possible way he could be defeated . . . .

"He's weak! Attack!" shouted the captain as he shot both his hands forward, along with his army as they launched large current of flames at the man and the villagers, mixing in the end as it became one giant fire blast

Seeing the flame heading straight at them, the villagers screamed as they scooted closer to each other, fearing for their lives as the inferno kept getting closer and closer, crying as they pleaded for the man to save them, but he just stayed keeled, unresponsive

The same little girl that was sadden when Aang left the village, sprouted her head out of her mother's arms and shouted at the man

"MISTER! WATCH OUT!"

-\ I /-

"_Where am I and why is everything so damn foggy . . .?_" thought Naruto, still feeling disoriented after breaking free and tried to stand up but his body felt heavy and unresponsive, "_what's going on . . .?_"

Then slowly everything started to come back to him, "_I remember now. . . Sasuke threatened to destroy the village as he launched an attack. I foiled his plan by destroying his forces and chased him towards the Valley of the End . . . We fought and caused a big explosion . . . and then . . . nothing,_" thought Naruto as he clutched his face in frustration with his right hand as he forced his mind in trying to remember, but nothing came

"MISTER! WATCH OUT!"

A voice suddenly called out to him, causing to look up as his vision finally cleared up only to see a giant flame heading straight at him and the people behind him, watching the flames just be a few feet away from him

-/ I \-

With the flames just being a few feet away, the blond rapidly jumped to his feet to intercept the raging flames as he shot his hand forward with an open palm, with his legs apart in order to get a better root into the ground, parting the flames at the middle, only to cause them to go around and on top of them as it engulfed them, causing everyone to scream in sheer fright as the villagers saw the fire encircling them, entrapping them a big dome of fire

Smirking, the captain believed everyone to be dead as he watched the flames dance around in the dome

-\ I /-

Within the fire dome, everyone was looking with astonishment and fear as they saw that the fire had not touched them and the man that blocked the attack was, in fact, controlling the fire itself as he waved his hands around while taking deep breaths with his eyes closed, and then he suddenly stopped the rhythm of his hands as he stood still with his hands closed together in a prayer in front of his chest and exhaled the air he held inside his lungs while bringing his hands down slowly till his hands were facing palm down, and the unthinkable happened as the villagers of the water tribe witnessed with their own eyes the fire began to change colors from orange/red to pure white, the heat becoming more intense than regular as the villagers began to sweat, cringing even more

Sensing their fear, Naruto turned towards them and smiled softly, "Don't be afraid, I won't harm you," he said softly, "trust me."

The villagers were skeptical of him, sure he saved them from being scorched from the dome itself, but he was still a fiebender, and firebenders were never to be trusted

"Trust him, we must. Harm us, he will not," said Gran Gran to the villagers, shocking them completely, for they know that she lost a best friend and a daughter to the Fire Nation, and yet, she's asking them to trust him

"But elder! He's a firebender! screamed a teenage girl as she glared hatefully at Naruto, "They are the cause of this war and lost so many loved ones!"

"_War? I thought I abolished the forthcomings of war when I killed Madara and ended the Fourth Great War . . ._ "thought Naruto confusedly, but was brought out of his thoughts when the elder spoke again

"No child, he's not a firebender entirely" now this had confused them completely, how could he not be a firebender if he was bending the fire to his will?

"I'll explain everything later, but just trust him like I have learned to trust him," said Gran Gran to her fellow villagers till she finally faced Naruto, "We are in your hands."

Naruto just simply nodded his head in acknowledgement, and resume his pose as he started to concentrated again, his tattoos beginning to glow once again as he folded both of his arms in front of him, left arm over his right and slowly broke them apart, one going up and the other going down, doing a circular motion with arms while his hands were open palmed, slowly parting the dome horizontally while slowly, Naruto began to deeply inhale the flames

-/ I \-

Seeing no signs of the villagers surviving the assault, the captained turned back to his vassal

"Men, let's head back to base," the captain ordered his men as he barely took the first step, only to stop once he felt a heat far more intense that a regular flame could make, his shadow being more defined by a bright flare. Turning around, he gasped in shock when saw the dome had changed color

"_White flames! How is this possible__!_" thought the captain in astonishment as he and every firebender took a step back in fright as they witness the fire began to flare up even more as the dome was being opened from the middle, revealing this . . . monster that survived their most powerful attacks, and waved it off as if it were nothing as he now had completely parted the dome and slowly inhaled the flames till none of them remain, making his body turn red from the intense heat his body contained within, the ice and snow around him melting at a fast rate as he just stood there, unharmed and unscathed, with the villagers behind him, very much alive as well.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!" shouted the captain in fear and anger, but his only reply was a glare before the blond reared his head back as he brought his right hand up close to his mouth, and brought his head back forth, exhaling the fire in a giant torrent of white flames from his mouth directly at the small army of firebenders. Some tried to disperse it away but found out that they could not bend the flame, and were engulfed by the fire. At the last minute, the captain jumped to the side with only his left leg being lit aflame, gritting his teeth at the exhilarating pain he felt on his leg, the captain barely turned back only to see most of his crew being cremated by the fire as it kept surging forward towards the two naval fleets, hitting them dead on as it created a large explosion, killing every man that was inside those ships in the process, only to leave nothing but a pile of burnt skeletons with their flesh burnt to the bone and melted, burnt steel after the fire had dispersed and, with a scorched trail within the village.

Naruto then turned his attention at the remaining ships that afloat afar the tribe, while the villagers just stared in shock at the power this man possessed, making Gran Gran confirm her theory as to who he was

"_He is real. . ._" thought the elder as she stared at the man's back, "_The Avatar of Four Dragons does exist!_"

Terrified the captain was, as he had felt firsthand the power of this demon, and hastily, he bended a small ember in his hand and launched it into the air, making it explode as it reached a certain height to signify his naval fleet to launch an all out assault

-\ I /-

On one of the navy ships, a helmsman using his binoculars; watched the whole ordeal through the cockpit, watching in disbelief as one man just obliterated a small army of firebenders without struggle. Desperately, he looked for survivors only to spot the captain clinching his leg as he gather fire in his hand and shot it upward, making it ignite. Watching the flare in the sky, he knew what the captain had ordered and grabbing the microphone on his right; he pressed the button and gave the signal;

"Everyone to your posts, attack with everything and obliterate the village!"

At this command, every firebender at every ship came up deck and prepared to launch an all out attack as they prepared the boulders covered in oil on the catapults and ignited them with fire, simultaneously catapulting the ignited boulders towards the village

-/ I \-

The villagers saw the rest of the ships began to showering them with flaming boulders, making them cringe in fear but Naruto just simply looked up into the sky and saw the incoming boulders. He slowly brought his hand up and brought down fast to his stomach, smacking it hard, causing Naruto to open his mouth and shot compressed air bullets at the flaming boulder, demolishing it in mid air as they made impact and continued to shoot the air bullets for a while till he saw they were launching more and more boulders at them

"_Damn it! They sure are becoming a pain in the ass,_" thought Naruto as he ceased smacking his abdomen and jumped up front in a twisting motion with both his hands forward clapped together, launching a powerful gale into the sky, tearing to pieces any boulder that was caught in its path, but some still managed to pass through as they were still heading towards the village. Wasting no time, Naruto dispersed the gale and reached into the snowed ground with his palms and brought his hands up as he crossed them in the air with his palms still open, bending the water and snow to hover above them, covering the entire village in a bigger dome made of crystal ice, and concentrated in managing to maintain it together as the boulders impacted it with only managing to crack it on a few parts of the dome.

-\ I /-

The villagers were now flabbergasted as this man not only did know firebending, he also knows airbending and waterbending! Hope slowly beginning to fill within them as they began to believe him to be the true avatar instead of that kid that came to their village but some were still skeptical about it

"But I thought only the Avatar was the only one capable to mastering all four elements . . ." muttered the same young girl that accused Naruto of being a firebender as she saw him bend the water above the village and covering them with a giant dome

"Child," the young girl turned back to look at Gran Gran, who hadn't taken her sights off the young man; "He can bend all four elements as well, for he is the Avatar as well," clarified the elder as the girl gained a look of shock on her face as she turned her attention back at Naruto

-/ I \-

The helmsman that had ordered the attack against the village shook in disbelief as he saw the same man that destroyed the two fleets was now destroying some of the boulders with air balls, only for him to order everyone to launch a massive attack, believing that man could not destroy all of them at once. But he was proven wrong when he saw the man jump with his hands extended forward and sending a massive gust of wind at the boulders, demolishing most of them but with some ignited boulders still headed towards their target

"_Now let's see you block those in time,_" sneered the man in his mind, believing the blond had no chance to save the village in time, only to have his eyes widen even further as a giant dome of ice rose over the village and protect it from the rest of their attacks

"Impossible . . . "thought the helmsman in as he now shook in fear, not knowing how close they were to awakening the sleeping dragon within

-\ I /-

"I'm growing tired of these bastards," muttered Naruto annoyed

While still holding the dome in place, Naruto quickly kneeled down and twisted his upper body to the left while moving his arms in a circle upward, maintaining his hands upward as he stood up again with his left leg slightly forward while putting some of his weight on his right. The dome began to dissolve as it slowly uncovered the village and moved forward, standing as a fifty feet tall tidal wave in front of the village, and slowly, Naruto then brought both his hands to each side while barely lifting them up with his hands opened, and his left leg up with the tip of his toes barely touching the ground while still raising his arms up as it caused the tidal wave to grow taller and wider till it finally stood sixty feet tall.

Slowly bringing his elbows down close to his abdomen, with his palms facing forward as he took a deep breath . . .

. . . Till he pushed forward as he sent both his arms out and leaned his body's weight on his left leg while exhaling his breath;

"AHHHHH," shouted Naruto as he pushed the tidal wave, sending it straight at the rest of the fleet's direction, causing a giant roar as the water rushed forward as it crashed on the icebergs along the way

-/ I \-

The messenger that was in the cockpit with the helmsman quickly wrote down everything that happened and rushed towards the messenger eagle that nested on its cage near the door, causing the bird to squeak in pain as the messenger grabbed it roughly. Attaching the note onto its leg, the man ran to window and let the bird fly back towards their naval base, while the helmsman watched helplessly as the massive tidal wave came at them, crushing the ice that stood in its way as it came forward at them, engulfing the first few ships as it tore them up in its waters.

"Spirits . . . What have we unleashed . . ." whispered the helmsman till the wave had finally hit and crushed his ship as it was being sent at the depths of the ocean

-\ I /-

While still holding his stance, Naruto just stood there as he watched the wave kept going and going as it slowly began to die down till it finally dispersed into the water and slowly he slipped out his stance while his tattoos began to stop their crimson glow till they completely disappeared from his body while the villagers just kept staring in awe at the power he displayed. The kids being the first to get out of the surprised expressions as they ran out of their parents arms towards Naruto, clamping their tiny arms onto his legs as they cheered him

"THAT WAS COOL!"

"DO IT AGAIN!"

"YOU"RE AWESOME!"

Naruto just chuckled as he looked down at the group of children that surrounded him, placing his hand on top of the little girl's head that was clinching on his leg and simply ruffled her hair.

The little girl looked up with small fear still being in her eyes, "are the bad people gone now?"

Naruto kneeled in front of her with his hand till on top of her head and smiled softly, "yes little one, the bad people will no longer disturb you"

"_If this a small fraction of his power, then I can see how he single handedly ended the wars and brought peace to the lands,_" thought Gran Gran as she watched the destruction left by the Avatar, but turning back towards Nartuo, she couldn't help but smile as she watched him interact kindly with the children, "_and I can see why peace lasted long under his reign_"

Suddenly Naruto gained a serious look in his eyes, and quickly stood up while turning, "I see you managed to survive," said the blond avatar as he glared at the captain, who was struggling as he used a bar of wood as a crutch to stand, scaring the villagers as he bended fire on his fist

"I suggest you surrender and I assure you, no harm will befall you," said Naruto calmly while still maintaining his guard, but it only infatuated the crippled captain even further in rage

"I will not . . . surrender to a coward . . . . That disappeared for over a century instead of dying along with EVERY FREAKIGN AIR NOMAD!" shouted the captain in anger as he cocked his hand back, causing Naruto to narrow his eyes at this revelation, but still couldn't feel bothered when he said he had disappeared for over a century

"_Have I really been frozen for that long?_" Pondered Naruto in his mind, but could not think about it much for he saw the captain about to launch an attack and the blond suddenly disappeared out of thin air, surprising everyone as he reappeared in front of the captain with his hand grasping his skull, and used his leg to sweep the captain's leg from behind and pushed him down to the ground, raising his right hand lightly up as he froze the firebender's hands to the ground. The captain continued to struggle to break free, but Naruto kept a strong grip on his skull.

"Now let's see what has happened during this past century," muttered Naruto as he closed his eyes and his tattoos began to glow softly along with the captain's eyes as he finally stopped struggling

Inside his mind, Naruto was able to see every atrocity the captain made in the name of the fire nation. Burning villages to the ground as he and his army passed through the lands, killing without mercy those who had surrendered willingly, ruling over conquering villages with an iron fist as he taxed them severely, separating families and causing orphans, but one memory that sickened him the most, was when he saw the memory of a young pregnant teen being burnt alive by the captain, giving her a slowly and painful. He also saw the lecture as to how Firelord Sozin exterminated the Air nation without warning by killing men, women and children, old and young, and him watching with anticipation at the lesson. At each passing memory, he could hear the screams of despair of each person he came across, he could hear the pleas of mercy but arrogantly, he slaughtered them without a thought, he could hear the cries of children as they cried for their dead parents to get up, not to leave them, but stayed unresponsive. With each vision that flashed through his mind, it made him get angrier and angrier by the minute, as his tattoos were now fully glowing, his canine teeth had now become fangs and his fingernails had grown into claws, and his eyes snapped open, glowing crimson as he glared into the eyes of the captain

The captain getting scared for his life as he now had regained control of his body and could feel the anger raging within, he pleaded to Nartuo, "I pro-promise to re-repent for my crimes, b-bu-but p-ple-please . . . spare me!" but only managed to anger the blond even further

"**YOU DARE ASK FOR MERCY WHEN YOU GAVE YOUR ENEMIES NONE AFTER THEY HAD SURRENDERED!****?**" shouted an enraged and livid Naruto at the man, beginning to squeeze the man's skull as you could hear the bone beginning to crack ,"**I WILL GIVE YOU THE SAME MERCY YOU DELIVERED TO THOSE YOU SLAUGHTER!****?**" and slowly white flames began to erupt from his body, scorching the captain's face slowly as smoke began to pour between Naruto's fingers, that is until Naruto unleashed the raging inferno, setting the captain aflame as he began to scream on top of his lungs for he could not stand the pain of his limbs being burnt, but Naruto simply unleashed more fire, causing the villagers to step back as they try to cover themselves from the inferno, and till the captain was turned to ash, with his screams echoing throughout the village with the smell of burnt flesh flowing through the air while Naruto just stayed kneeled with his hand still extended forward with the fire still licking his body, while he was in a trance

-/ I \-

However, unknown to the villagers, an astral form of a dragon appeared from underneath the ground as it used its claws to grasp onto his shoulders and pulled out Naruto's spirit out of his body as they flew into the distance

"What the hell!" demanded Naruto as he looked around till he finally looked down and saw his physical body being left behind, and looked up to see a dragon had a hold of him as they continued to fly away

"Let me go you over sized lizard!" shouted Naruto as he struggled to break free, but the dragon didn't budge as it kept flying on top of a mountain, its peak residing high in the skies where the sun gave an orange glow. Once the dragon reached atop of the mountain, the dragon released Naruto not so gracefully a few feet off the ground, but the blond twisted his body in mid air and managed to land on his feet while glaring at the dragon that had landed on top of a hill, passively staring down at Naruto

"It's a pleasure to finally meet the Avatar that brought bending to the world through his four students," Naruto turned around to see the person that had spoken, but found that said person wasn't alone for he had three more companions with him, each of them staring down at him indifferently as they stood on the edge of the hill

"Who are you? Why was I brought here? And where in the hell is here?" demanded Naruto as he got in his earth bending stance, but to his shock he found that he could not use bending as he tried to bend the earth to grasps the four intruders that were in front of him

"Relax young one; we are not your enemies," stated an old man wearing robes that were red with black lining. He had arm bands made of some blue fabric and had a long beard of white with his hair being white as well, with some sort of crown thereon his head. His face was showing a good deal of old age, but his eyes were what made him stop, amber eyes that were hardened by battle experience, further telling the former Shinobi that this man wasn't someone to be trifled with when angered, despite his kind and calm demeanor, "And as to who am I, I'm Avatar Roku, the predecessor of the previous reincarnated avatar, and the rest of my companions are the previous Avatars before me. This is Avatar Kyoshi," the old man now known as Roku signaled with has to a fairly tall woman with long brown hair that was tied at the end of her hair, wearing a long green kimono with a grass green shirt above the kimono, and a light green vest on top with combat boots and matching color gloves. White war paint adorned her face with red paint on top of her eyebrows and a mock crown on her head, simply nodded her head at him in acknowledgment, "And this is Avatar Kuruk," then a bearded man wearing the traditional water tribe clothing wearing the hide of a sea lion stepped forward, he too nodded his head at the blond, "And lastly, this is Avatar Yangchen," a fairly good looking woman with a blue arrow on her forehead, wearing air nomad robes with a wooden necklace around her neck, simply bowed in respect at the Avatar in front of her, "We and every reincarnated Avatar before us have maintained the balance between the four nations since your absence and your son, the first Avatar, took the mantle of keeper of balance more than ten thousand years ago," said Avatar Roku to Naruto who just stood dumbfounded on his spot

"T-ten tho-thousand years ago!" exclaimed the blond as he fell on his knees and Roku just nodded his head sadly in confirmation, "_Ten-Ten . . ._" was the only name that kept repeating on his mind, for the thought of his wife living while believing that her husband was dead and the pain she must have felt every day of her life as she raised their son by herself, and that ate him from the inside out, and the hopes of seeing her were just thrown out the window along with chances of being there for his son, and watch him as he grows to become an adult, shattering his will as his eyes lost their spark for life

Yangchen felt sadden as she saw the man before her become nothing but a shell and jumped down and landed softly next to Naruto, kneeling in front of him and gently cupped his cheeks in her hands, making him look up into her eyes, "Father," started the air bender causing Naruto to widen his eyes in mild surprise, "Don't blame yourself for what happened long ago, you did your duty knowing the risks and consequences in order to protect those you held dear in your heart, and yes, you're our father, for we are reincarnations of your son, Raizen, since we are part of the cycle that began when Raizen awoken the Avatar state at birth," Yangchen said softly to Naruto as she slowly embraced him

"I hate to interrupt and be the bearer of bad news," Avatar Kuruk suddenly said as he landed a few feet away from the two, with Kyoshi and Roku in tow

"But we seek your help once again in order to stop the war that has been destroying this world," said Kyoshi as she walked towards the blond who still hadn't moved a muscle, causing Kyoshi to give a disgusted look towards him, "If you truly are the Avatar of Four Dragons, then I'm truly not impressed," ranted the former Avatar from the earth nation, shocking the rest of the group, "I used to hear tales of how you single handedly stopped a raging war that had engulfed the lands in a river of blood many centuries ago by fighting and killing an immortal that had the abilities to control the powerful of demons, but I fear the tales were exaggerated if you are nothing but a fucking coward that hid himself in a pillar of ice," Kyoshi finished her rant as she glared at Naruto

Yangchen was about to protest at Kyoshi's words, but a hand on her shoulder suddenly stopped her and turned towards Naruto as he softly pushed her away. Once the air nomad was at a small distance away from him, without warning, launched himself at Kyoshi with blinding speed, shocking her as he grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the stoned wall and lifted her up with one hand only. Looking directly at his eyes, the former Avatar felt a small tinge of fear as he glared at her with murderous intent

"I don't need a fucking lecture from someone who doesn't understand the turmoil I'm going through, so I would watch out with what I say if I were you," threatened Naruto coldly as he glared at her with fury

Roku slowly walked beside Naruto and gently placed a hand on the blonds' shoulder, "She doesn't mean what she said, but we have more urgent things to worry about."

Naruto kept glaring at Kyoshi before abruptly letting her go and turned towards Roku, "Why is there war after many years when I eradicated the thoughts of war? I thought the Avatar was suppose to maintain the balance between the nations, where was he or she when the first risings of war commenced?" said the blond as blue glared into amber eyes, "Tell me everything," sighing, Roku waved his hand lazily and the scenery began to change.

A younger yet aged Roku arguing with the Fire Lord of that time about the Fire Nation invading and colonizing lands and villages from other nations and ordering him to seize at once. Watching from afar, Roku and Naruto watched as everything took place, "Back then, Fire Lord Sozin had planned a massive invasion over the rest nations in secret, and first approached me about it after I had come back home from my training trip to master the rest of the elements, but I refused to be part of his plan as it would disturb the balance of the world, and that left a bitter pill for Sozin to swallow, but still, Sozin went on with his plan of world domination. Later years, I confronted him to stop at once, but sadly, it ended in confrontation with the promise of ending his life, something I regret severely for I later found out that Sozin had been long dead," stated Roku as he slowly closed his eyes and Naruto just looked at Roku with surprise,

"Dead? But I see him standing there, how he can be dead unless . . . "asked Naruto till realization slowly began to sip in his mind, "an illusion . . ." an answer to which the former reincarnation nodded his head, and again waved his hand, changing the scenery once again to that of a volcano in the background, standing a few feet away from Roku as he laid on the ground with black fire burning on his chest with the Fire Lord having his fist shot out with black flames dancing around it, shocking the blond much

"_Black flames! But there was only one Uchiha that had such a degree of control over the black flames of hell_," thought the crimson avatar while he continued to watch with anticipation as Roku looked at the Fire Lord in shock, and then it happened, shocking Naruto even further as Sozin's appearance began to disperse, revealing a person he thought to be long dead stood there, with his raven hair flowing in the wind, red eyes with tomoes around the iris glaring at Roku,

"Sasuke . . ."muttered Naruto

" _. . . I had hoped on your return, that you would not make the same foolish mistake your friend made, but yet again, I was proved wrong as you opposed me, defeating me without effort despite my power, but that was my mistake since I underestimated you for you're not just the Avatar, but a direct descendent of HIM AND HIS BASTARD OFFSPRING AS WELL!" finished the raven haired man with a snarl as he glared hatefully at Roku, "but with you gone, all my plans are going to be realized. I have a vision for the future, Roku, with me being its sole ruler." finished the raven haired imposter as his dragon landed behind him, waiting for his master to mount him._

Naruto just kept watching till Sasuke mounted his dragon and flew away into the distance, and then everything disintegrated as it went back to normal as they stood again at the same rocky terrain

"I take it that you know the man that started the war," it was more of a statement than a question, a statement that Naruto nodded his head slowly

"Yes . . . I do, he threatened to engulf the lands into another sea of blood in order to quench his thirst for power and revenge," said Naruto as he slowly closed his eyes, taking a pause before continuing his story, "But I assumed that he died long ago."

"But as you can see, he is very much alive and ruling over the Fire Nation while he is raging war for the past century and is nearing victory," said Roku as he stared at Naruto seriously, "And as for why the avatar did nothing, only he can answer you," finished Roku, with the rest of the previous Avatars standing behind him,

"And the reigning Avatar doesn't stand a chance against him. Only you have the power to stop him and end this bloody war, just as you did many years ago," said Yangchen as she stepped forward

"So we ask of you, Avatar of Four Dragons, will you lend us your power once again," pleaded Avatar Kuruk

Naruto just stood there quietly, not believing that Sasuke was still alive, slowly opened his eyes and turned towards the four precious avatars with a stony expression, "I'll help you," was his answer

Nodding his thanks, Roku signaled for his trusted dragon to come forth, and did so as the dragon landed next to Roku, "Fang will return you to your body in order to return to the world of the living."

Just simply nodding his head walked towards the dragon, causing Roku to worry for he could feel the depression growing within him as he watched Nartuo carefully mounting the dragon.

"Avatar Naruto," the blond turned back at Roku, "Don't let the loss of your family cloud your judgment and cause your demise," wisely advised the avatar, but the blond just simply turned around

Once he felt comfortable sitting on the dragon's back, he gently petted the dragon and it took off into the air

-\ I /-

Back at the village of the Southern Water tribe, the villagers still maintained their distance from the blond teen as the fire had not yet receded as it still danced around him, not wanting to be burnt to ash just like the captain of navy, however, the same little girl that was sad over Aang's departure, wiggled out of her mom's arms with ease as she was preoccupied watching the fire, scaring her as she saw her daughter head straight into the fire

"SHANA!" shouted the mother, but to only gasp in shock as the girl entered the flames and wasn't burnt at all

The little girl kept walking towards Naruto till she stood in front of his kneeling form with his arm still stretched out. Curious and worried, the little girl approached him and gently placed her tiny hands on his arm and began to shake him, as if trying to wake him up

"Mister, can you hear me? Please wake up," said the little girl as she didn't notice the same dragon that took Naruto dive from above towards the ground with the blond clashing with his own body as his spirit was put back on his body

Once back on his body, the blond avatar took a deep breath and exhaled the air he consumed, extinguishing the white flames completely while his markings stopped their glow and receded back into nothingness. Opening his eyes, Naruto noticed the little girl from before and gave her a small smile before he stood up and turned towards the villagers and walked towards their direction with his sights set on Kanna till he finally stood almost in front of her

"Elder, I need you to tell where the current is avatar headed towards," said Naruto to Gran Gran while she simply nodded her head

"He is heading up North, where our sister tribe resides in order to learn and master waterbending," she informed him, and Naruto just simply bowed in respect

"I thank you, elder," Naruto said politely before he turned back towards the entrance of the village and began to head course towards the North Pole

"Wait," Gran Gran called out, causing the blond to look back at her, "let us at least repay you for saving us by helping you prepare for your journey. It is a long road ahead of you and you need at least a canoe in order to make across this cold waters."

Smiling a bit, he accepted and walked back towards the village to rest up for the day and prepares to leave the next day

-/ I \-

The following day, Naruto now stood again at the edge of the ice with a canoe roped to the ground, carrying supplies for his journey, as he stared at the group of villagers that had come to see his departure with Kanna stepping forward with a few more extra items at hand

"Here, you will need this," she said as she handed him a small bundle to him, "it contains a map of the landscape of the four nations and the location of the Northern Water tribe, and a letter to my grandchildren with a new set of clothing," she explained

Naruto just nodded his head in gratitude, and looked at the rest of the people, "I'm forever indebted to your gratitude. I promise to repay ya'll somehow once the war is over," he finished saying before he swiftly jumped into the canoe without rocking it much and placed the small bundle next to the supplies and untied the canoe as he was getting ready to sail, but not before approached him once again

"Avatar, I have one favor to ask of you," the elder said to him, "please, watch over my grandchildren when you find them, they're all that I've left of my daughter and I can't bear the thought of losing them," pleaded Katara's grandmother with small tears forming in her eyes

Naruto just simply reach with both his arms and gently wrapped them around her, whispering in her ear, "I promise to take good care of them Gran Gran, it's a promise of a lifetime," and with that he let go of her and used his foot to push himself offshore, waving goodbye to the villagers as he drifted away

Once he was at a good distance away, Naruto turned towards the horizon and kneeled down with his arms stretched out with opened palms till he stood up and brought his arms forward, bending the water to rise as a small tidal wave for him to be pushed at high speeds towards earth kingdom territory

-\ I /-

Watching from a distance, Gran Gran saw the crimson avatar get further and further away, hope dwelling in her heart with a certain thought in her mind;

"_It is not place to have told you, but yours and my granddaughter's destinies were intertwined long before you had awakened. With each other, both of you will be able to heal and fill the holes you both hold inside your hearts in order to find happiness,"_ thought Kanna as she closed her eyes as she turned back to walked back inside the village with the rest of her people, awaiting for the day that the war would over . . . .

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TBC . . .

And cut! sorry to have you folks waiting for the next update, but you guys know how hard it is when you have work and school at the same time, it's not easy, but alas, here's the latest chapter of the series, hope you guys enjoyed it and R&R


	6. Book I Chapter 4

First, I would like to apologize for taking long on updating the story(ies), but lately, I have been having trouble with , whenever I tried to update/edit any of my stories. But thankfully, that problem seems to have been resolved.

Also, glad to see that reviews are still coming, and to those that are wondering how Naruto came to gain his bending abilities or as to how Udon became blind or what happened to Naruto's son, well everything will be explained later on through the story, but I will try to leave a couple of hints here and there to have you folks guessing, ( I know, I'm evil lol), but I will give you guys one hint, Aang will meet Raizen, don't know when or how, but they will meet and his story will be told. Also, I'm going to skip through some of the episodes of ATLA book one since they are not as important, but I will give a time line in cases I do make some changes and/or point out which episodes stay as canon, and hopefully you guys won't get confused.

One more thing before we hit the chapter, Azula will have a change of heart, but that's all I'm going to say to those that are curious as to what role I have in stored for her, so everyone will just have to read the story and find out.

(A/N): explanation at the end of the chapter every time this is posted

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or Avatar: the Last Air-bender

Avatar timeline:

Episode "Warriors of Kyoshi" stays as cannon

Episode "King of Omashu" stays as cannon

Episode "The Water bending Scroll" will come before the "Winter Solstice" episodes

Episode "Imprisoned" Naruto will be the one going instead of the Avatar gang

Both episodes "Winter Solstice" will stay as canon with just a slight modification when Aang talks to Roku at the 2nd part of "Winter Solstice"

(A/N): explanation at the end of the chapter every time this is posted

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or Avatar: the Last Air-bender

And now . . . On with the show!

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_Water_

_Earth_

_Fire_

_Air_

_Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony,_

_Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked,_

_Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them,_

_But when the world needed him most, he vanished._

_One hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, _

_An air-bender named Aang, _

_But unknown to us, the avatar of legend, a man named Naruto had reawakened._

_And although Aang's air-bending skills are amazing and Naruto may be the crimson avatar, they both have a lot to learn before they're ready to save anyone._

_But . . ._

_I believe Aang and Naruto can save the world._

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This is His Story;

Commencing of a Journey

-\ II /-

\ . /

It had been almost four weeks since the Avatar and his friends had left the Southern Tribe and made their journey towards the North Pole, but not before making a few pit stops along the way.

Looking for a short break from their travels, their first stop was the Earth Kingdom's Kyoshi Island, where Aang brings the gang to the island on order to ride "Elephant Koi," large fish who inhabits the surrounding waters, without realizing that there was a bigger fish under the sea prowling at its prey, as it tried to make a meal out of Aang, but he managed to escape without harm. Before they were able to leave, the gang was captured by a group of female warriors who live on the island. Believing that they were Fire Nation spies, Aang was able to convince them to trust him by using air bending, for Kyoshi was a past Avatar and he is the current Avatar. In the mean while, Sokka was taught a lesson in humility and equality by the Kyoshi Warrior Suki, who trains him after giving him a humiliating defeat and manages to change his sexist attitude while Aang lets the village's reverence of him go to his head. Unfortunately, Zuko hears the rumors of the avatar being on Kyoshi Island and catches up to them, causing mayhem as the scarred fire prince burns, causing Aang to feel guilty as he saw the damage that was done to the village until the group draws him off the island.

After they left the island of Kyoshi, the group's next stop on their trip around the world was the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu. There, Aang, disguised as an old man, shows Katara and Sokka the Omashu chute mail delivery system, which he and his friend Bumi used to ride for fun a hundred years ago. The trio gives the chutes a try but runs into trouble after it destroys a cabbage merchant's cart. Put in front of the crazy King of the city, the gang is given a feast, to which the king suspects that Aang is the Avatar and throws him a piece of chicken to which Aang holds in mid air using his bending skills. The old king puts him through three deadly challenges to test his skills, each hidden with a secret meaning, while holding his friends captive. After challenging the king and defeating him as the final challenge, Aang is forced to figure out the King's name, and based on the nature of the challenges, he realizes that the King is his old friend Bumi.

Bumi informs Aang of what his task as the current Avatar entails and that hopefully, he would think like a mad genius in order to prevail on the hardships ahead of him.

-\ . /-

Meanwhile, at the naval port occupied by the fire nation;

General Zhao stood looking out the window of his office, watching the sunset as it illuminated the sea, awaiting for the return of the fleet he had sent out to fetch the Avatar, but the problem was that they had left over two weeks ago, and no report hadn't come in, and it began to irritate him to no end as a scowl appeared in his face

"Where the hell are those imbeciles!" growled the general in displeasure, but then he turned towards his door frame as the sound of running footsteps got closer till a soldier appeared through the door, gasping for air as he used the door frame for support while he held a scroll in his hand;

"General Zhao!" gasped the soldier as he saluted his higher in command, "Sir! A messenger hawk just arrived, with grave news concerning the fleet"

"And what news could it be besides they might have already captured the avatar and be heading back to base," said the commander as he went back to admiring the sunset

"Commander Zhao . . . it's worse than that," said the nameless soldier, "the entire fleet was decimated by one man."

"WHAT!" shouted Zhao as he turned back in a snap and waltz towards the soldier to snatch away the message from his hands and began to read what the letter contained:

_General Zhao;_

_By the time you get this message, our fleet would be no more;_

_We found him! We found the Avatar;_

_But dangerous he is, for he annihilated the captain's crew of two ships;_

_I fear that we may have just signed the Fire Nation's death warrant;_

_Mercilessly he is destroying the rest of the ships as I write this;_

_We have awakened the sleeping dragon;_

_Please! Inform the Fire Lord of this threat!_

Growling in anger, Zhao gripped the paper till it crumbled in his hands, until he noticed that there was a second page on the back of the message. Separating both papers, he took notice that the second page was a drawing of someone, golden spiked haired, three lines on each cheek with red eyes.

"_So this is the Avatar . . ._" thought the general as he glared at the drawing. Turning his attention back towards the soldier that brought him the letter, he barked his order;

"I want you to post this all flier all over the nations! I want the Avatar to be found and captured, dead or alive!" he said as he slammed the drawing in his desk, leaving it laying there and the drawing slowly begins to become transparent, as it revealed the man of the picture at sea

-/ . \-

The blond avatar could be seen on his raft, lying on his back lazily as he just dozed under the sun, letting the sea drift him off into who knows where. It has been a week since he left the Southern Water Tribe village and so far, he didn't know where to begin looking for. The lands had changed so much that he no longer recognized the land terrains from his time.

"_Damn it . . . I should have known not to leave in haste,_" thought the blond as he sat up half sleepy, "_I don't even know how her grandchildren or the avatar looks like for that matter. Hell I don't know where they went to begin wit or as to where the hell I'm, man what a drag,_" thought Naruto as he ran his hand through his hair in mild frustration till turned towards his left and saw the untouched bundle that the village elder had given him before he left

"I had forgotten all about this," muttered the blond as he reached for the package and placed it on top of his cross legs, unwrapping it as it revealed two scrolls, one big and one small. some clothing, a map and small supply of food. Curious, reached and grabbed the scroll first as he unrolled it, revealing a painting of two teens, one being a dark skin girl, blue eyes, and dark brown hair whole some of her hair was pulled into a bun; as the rest was braided into a ponytail beneath it while she held a soft smile on her face with her hands held together in front of her waist, causing the blonds' heart to slightly ache for somehow the girl reminded him somewhat of his long deceased wife. Then he noticed she was standing next to a equally dark skin young man that held a small arrogant smirk with his arms crossed affront of his chest, also adorning blue eyes but a shaved head save for a strip of brown hair pulled back in a small ponytail that took shape of a small pineapple, causing Naruto to remember his lazy friend with a sad smile on his face before he shook his head side to side, regaining back his focus back on his objective

"_So they must be her grandchildren_," mused Naruto as he still looked at the painting, "_At least now I know how they look, and if I find them, I find the avatar._" Rolling the painting back into the scroll, Naruto then picked up the smaller scroll, only to find that it was addressed to her grandchildren, shrugging it off, he turned his attention to the set of clothing that was folded with a small note attached to it, picking it up, he began to read its contents;

_Avatar Namikaze;_

_As a token of our gratitude,_

_We knitted you a new set of clothes_

_To replace the tattered clothes you are wearing_

_Gran Gran_

Re-reading the note twice, he looked at the black pile set of clothing that was still left untouched. Reaching for the piece of clothing as he stood up, he held it in front of him, revealing to be a black sleeveless vest with a turtle neck, high enough to cover the lower part of the face, and it was adorning green outlines around the edges of the shoulder sleeves and turtle neck. Putting the vest down, he reached for the second piece of clothing, revealing to be a set of black kung fu pants with a long yellow sash to go around the waist, and a pair of kung fu shoes. (A/N)

"Hmm . . . no orange?" muttered the blond, then he looked down at his own clothing or what was left of it, all tattered and torn ready to fall apart, "I guess I can't complain if they went through the trouble making this for me, and the style does look cool," smirked Naruto as he slowly put on the vest and began to change his clothing. Fully standing, Naruto walked towards the edge of the raft and looked at his reflection by using the water as a mirror, admiring how good the outfit fit him, and the sash wrapped around his waist leaving some of it hanging over his lap. Doing a back flip, he landed in the middle of the raft and did some hung gar and tai-chi forms, feeling comfortable as to how loose the outfit felt

"They did a good job with this, I barely feel any restrictions on yet it feels a little tight," muttered the blond as he walked to where the forearms bracers were and lifted them up, strapping them on his wrist

"_But I feel like I'm missing something . . ._" thought the blond till a light bulb lit up while he was massaging his wrist, "_I know, I'm missing a hat, but I'll worry about that later since I'm close to shore,"_ and indeed he was close to shore as he saw a port not far from him, but decided to land ashore on the furthest port from the village. Once the raft reached the wooden platform, the blond used a rope to tie down his raft so it wouldn't drift away. Once making sure his raft was tightly secure, Naruto went to grab his bag and placed over his shoulder. Once making sure he wasn't leaving anything behind, he walked off his raft and began to make way towards town.

Looking around, he noticed that mostly thieves, mercenaries and pirates were owners of the shops around here, and had to admit, they did have some good quality items, bringing a thought to his mind;

"_hmmm if I want to keep a low profile, I must not use my bending, especially fire-bending since that would get me in shit load of trouble in the other nations thanks to this fucking war,"_ pondered the blond as he softly stroke his chin while he continued to walked down the streets, "_but that would leave me with tai-jutsu only, and that would not help much if I'm outnumbered while they are carrying weapons,_" then he looked at some of the shops that had weapons displayed out in the open and made his way towards one of the shops as he walked inside. Once inside, he went straight at the wall that held the swords, analyzing them till his eyes caught sight of a certain blade. A longer than normal katana, whose blade was on the opposite side of the blade, while the dull part was where the blade it should be, a ray skin handle with dual bamboo pegs holding the handle together. On the blade, there were some words engraved;

"你不貪，你不害怕"

"(_Thou shall not be greedy, Thou shall not be afraid)"_

"_Hmm, a sakabato huh? This blade looks perfect, I don't have to worry about holding back and by adding my wind affinity, I can make the dull part sharp when needed,"_ thought Naruto as he kept staring at the blade while he reached out for it, but once his hand was a couple of centimeters away he could not shake off the feeling of something ominous coming from the blade, "_What the . . ._"

"Hey young lad," a gruff voice snapped him out of his thoughts as he looked towards the source of the voice, finding that it was an old weapon smith that stood behind the counter had gained his attention, "If I were you, I would not dare to purchase that blade, my boy" said the old man grimly

Raising an eyebrow, he walked towards the counter to talk to the old man, "Let me guess, it's a cursed sword, correct?"

Raising his eyebrows in mild surprise, "You knew?"

"No, but I could feel something off coming from the blade," replied the blond as he turned back looking at the blades

Nodding his head, the old took a sigh as he told about the blades, "According to the tales, since the time of Chin the Great, every famous swordsman that used that reversed sword always ended up dead," said the old smith as he took out a pipe and inserted some tobacco in it before lighting a match, puffing from the tip to inhale the smoke, "And to this date, there has been no one in this world who could wield it" finished the old man, exhaling the smoke from his lungs

"That's interesting," muttered Naruto before he turned to the old man with a grin, "I'll take it," shocking the old as he dropped the pipe from his mouth

"Are you nuts! Haven't you listened to a word I have said! I can't sell them to you, for if you died then it would be my fault! Besides you cannot kill anyone with that!" shouted the old geezer in disbelief as he watched the stupid blond walk back towards the sword and dropped his bag. Reaching for the reverse blade as he grasped it with his hand, the lunatic turned back at the old man again with the same grin

"How about a deal then?" challenged the blond, "Let's try to see what is better between my luck and their curse," and chunked into the air, shocking the old man even more, "If I lose, my destiny will end here," said Naruto with finality as he stretched both his arms out with his eyes closed

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING! DO YOUWANT TO LOSE YOUR ARM!" shouted the old man with fear evident for the youngster, "THAT SWORD IS VERY SHARP EVEN IF IT'S A REVERSE BLADE!

And in slow motion, the sakabato came down as gravity took its course, getting closer towards the arm of the blond avatar, but to the shocking surprise of the shop owner, the blade just danced around his arms without harming him or leaving a scratch on him, embedding itself into the wooden floor

After a long period of silence, Naruto just grinned, "I'll take it," causing the old man to fall onto the ground in shock and watched as how the blond just placed the blade into his bag, and was about to lift his bag till the old man got out of his stupor

"Wait!" yelled the shop owner, gaining Naruto's full attention as he watched the owner go into the back, searching for something as he could hear the sounds of items being moved around, and after a few minutes later, he saw the old man walk out with a regular black sheath, and he just stared back confusedly

"Eh what is this?" asked Naruto

"I want you to have it, that way you don't have to worry about stabbing yourself while carrying the blade on your bag," explained the man, "Not only that," the merchant grabs the sheath and taps it against the wooden floor, causing a loud tapping noise when hitting the floor, surprising Naruto lightly, "the sheath is made of a special metal that's light but hard as a diamond, perfect for use in case you lose or get the sword taken away to defend against bandits."

"Are you sure?" asked Naruto unsure, but the old man just simply nodded his head, "I can't explain it, but you, my boy, I feel that you're gonna need them in the coming future," said the old geezer

Not sure as to what to say Naruto just politely bowed in gratefulness and gave his thanks. He grabbed the sheath and placed the sword inside, making an audible click when placed. Placing the sword on his side under his sash, he picked up his bag and walked out of the store.

-\ . /-

Once outside, the blond continued his merry way through town as he walked down the streets of the market, till he heard the whispers of a small group of traders while they were gathered around next to a stall that held cabbages. Curious as to what they were talking about, he walked towards them to get a better hearing

"Did you hear about the village that is being occupied by the fire nation?" said one of the merchants

"Another one? No place is safe from those monsters," cried out cabbage stand owner

"That's not even the worst part, I hear that they took every earth-bender that resided in the village and no one knows where they were taken. Some believe that were killed off to stop the uprising of revolt against them," informs the same merchant, causing most of them to lower their heads in hopelessness

"But . . . there's still hope, right? I mean the Avatar has come back," said another merchant with hope laced on his voice

"The Avatar? Humph," scoffed an old merchant while he held a smoking pipe in his hand, "it's the Avatar's fault to begin with, if he hadn't disappeared a hundred years ago and stopped this war from happening; we wouldn't be in this damned mess to begin with."

"Excuse me gentleman," interrupted Naruto as he chose to step in, catching their attention as they turned towards him, "but I was wondering if you point out where this village is located at?"

"And what business do you have there, boy?" asked the old man as he took a puff from his pipe, blowing some smoke at Naruto's face

"_Fucking bastard . . ._" thought Naruto as he swatted away the smoke, "I'm just a wanderer that raids fire nation camps to help others, sir."

"So . . . you're just a foolish daredevil, aren't ya lad," replied the old man who shrugged his shoulders, "Oh well, it's your funeral, son," pulling out a map from under his coat, he spread it out in front of Naruto, pointing out where they were located, "The trading village is located here, this is where we are located," then pointing his finger down south from where he first pointed at, "The village that is being occupied by fire benders is located south of here, " to a small dot that was close to the ocean, "If you run fast you'll at the village in three days time laddie."

Pulling out his own map, Naruto scribed down the points where old chain smoker pointed at and put it away once he was finished. Turning to the old man, Naruto simply bowed in gratitude, "I appreciate your help sir."

"WATCH OUT!"

A voice shot out suddenly out of nowhere, causing Naruto and the merchants to look back down the road, only to find three kids, two boys, one bald kid with a blue arrow and dark skinned teen with blue eyes with a young girl equally as dark skin with same shade of blue eyes, with a flying lemur running straight at them while being chased by some men. The merchants sidestepped to the sides as one the boys and the girl ran around the cabbage cart, while the bald kid just jumped through the small space of the cart and turned twirling his staff till he swatted it, causing a gust of wind to send the cart back crashing at the men that were chasing them.

"MY CABBAGES!" shouted the cabbage merchant, "this place is worse than Omashu!"

"_That's them!_" thought Naruto in surprise as he saw them running away and turning at a corner, "_Those are the kids from the painting!_"

At this realization, the blond quickly dashes after them by jumping to the roofs and ran in hopes of catching up to them before those men they were being chased by did first. Try to find them, he did, but just as easily, he lost them till he heard a shout and ran towards where it came, and landed on the roof as he stood at the edge, only to find the girl being held hostage by a guy holding a knife at her neck while the boys looked ready to surrender. Not letting it stand by, Naruto jumped onto the scene just as he landed between them;

-/ . \-

Aang, Sokka and Katara kept running from the pirates as they tried to lose them by out maneuvering them through the trading market, but persistent they were as a few were still hot on their tail;

"Just wait till we catch the lot of you runts!"

"Thieves! You won't get away!

"Who are you calling a thief, you thief!" shouted Sokka back as he kept on running, "All of this for a stupid water scroll!"

"Shut up and keep running!" shouted Aang as he still maintained haste with Katara following in tow

Looking ahead of the streets, Aang saw another corner to turn at and to hopefully loose them once and for all. Turning sharply, almost skidding, Aang ran down the alley with Sokka and Katara following suit, but unfortunately, Aang didn't count on the alley being a dead end as he and his group came to a sudden halt

"It's a dead end!" exclaimed Katara in panic

"Let's turn back!" said Sokka as he turned backwards, but again, came a to stop one he the pirates finally had caught to them, chuckling as they entrapped them inside the alley;

"Heh heh, nowhere to run now runts," sneered the pirate with long black hair with a light green bandanna around his head. Aang jumped in front of his friends with his staff being held in a defensive position, ready to use his air-bending to get out of this mess . . . too bad they didn't notice one of the pirates that was sneaking behind them from the roof top as he landed quietly and took Katara hostage, causing her to shout in surprise, causing Aang and Sokka to look back, as she was being held close as he held a knife at her neck, with the intent of slicing it open

"Katara!" shouted Sokka frantically, pulling out his boomerang ready to throw it at him while Aang was ready to spring into action, but stopped at once when they saw a small trickle of blood running down her neck as the pirate had pressed the blade a little harder against her skin, slightly cutting it open

"Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't try anything if I were you boys," warned the pirate, "Now, drop your weapons and surrender peacefully, and the girl won't suffer a painful end," offered the pirate, causing both boys to grit their teeth in anger, but couldn't do anything about it for they would hurt Katara. Having no other alternative, both of them were about to announce their surrender till a black blur landed in front of them, revealing to be kneeling man with gold hair holding a traveling bag over his shoulder with a sword strapped on his side, wearing an black sleeveless vest with color matching pants, glaring dangerously at the pirate as he stood up;

"I suggest that you let her go and walk away while you and your comrades are still able to walk," warned the stranger as he softly let his bag drop beside him and pulled out his sword, embedding it on the ground.

"Don't interfere, this does not concern you," retorted the pirate, but the blond just simply took a step forward, causing the pirate to get nervous as took a step backward with Katara in tow, "Stay where you are or the girl gets it!" but it fell on deft ears as Naruto took another step forward. Anxiety finally getting the best of him, the pirate twitched his arm, ready to slit her throat open just as Katara closed her eyes at the sudden twitch, but a twitch was all that Naruto needed as he blurred at the pirate, grabbing onto the pirates hand with his elbow pointing upward while he held Katara by the waist with his other arm up close. Holding the limb tightly till the blond just simply twisted his arm at a normal angle, breaking the elbow and fracturing the wrist at the same time, causing said pirate to scream in pain as he let go of Katara in order to hold his hand, but Naruto didn't let him do such as he pulled the injured pirate harshly towards him and with the same hand, shot a rapid straight punch at the pirate's face, breaking his nose as he send him crashing at the wall, where he slid down and landed with a thud, making everyone look wide eyed at the display of skill.

With her eyes still shut, Katara awaited for death to claim her as the pirate was about to cut her throat open, but instead, she felt something snake around her waist gently carried with the sound of bones breaking just before she felt the blade being pulled away, followed by a loud scream and again bones being broken till it finally stopped as it hit the wall. Slowly, she opened her eyes and she saw the man that intervened holding her closely with his fist shot out. Looking back as to where his fist was pointing at, she saw the pirate that held her hostage unconscious on the floor, bleeding from the nose with his arm being bend at unnatural angle

"Are you alright?"

She heard him ask, and turned to look at him. Hard ocean blue eyes staring back her as she simply just nodded her head slowly.

Shifting his attention from Katara, Naruto looked at Sokka, "Oi! Baldly! Boomerang guy! Come over here." Hearing the nicknames the golden haired stranger had given, both, Aang and Sokka snapped out of their stupor and rushed towards them, not wanting to anger him

Seeing that both were front and center, the blond just simply handed Katara to them, "Stay here and watch over her, I'll take care of this mess," said/ordered Naruto as he walked past them and headed to the group of pirates that now had gotten out of their shock, glaring angrily at him

"I assume that your answer is the same as the one your unconscious friend gave me," he exclaimed, and his response was the them running drawing their weapons;

"Fella, I'll give you to the count of three for you to get lost," said the long haired pirate, but Naruto just stood there, looking at the pirates passively

"1 . . . 2 . . . 3!"

And Naruto simply responded by throwing a punch at the pirate, giving him a black eye as he stumbled back towards his comrades half conscious. One of the other pirates rushed at the blond with his knives drawn, ready to slice the blond as he thruster forward, but Naruto just grabbed a hold of his hand and twisted far enough to shatter the bones and yanked the arm hard enough to dislocate the shoulder. Pushing the pirate away as he fell down to the ground clutching his arm in pain while another one rushed at him with his sword held high to slash him, but Naruto took a step forward as he intercepted using his bracer to block it, and sent a kick to his mid section hard enough to break some ribs and another one jumped from the side as he tried to land a punch, but Naruto caught the punch and shoved the arm back dislocating the shoulder, twisted the arm harshly causing the elbow to brake, and flipped the man, causing him to land in front of Aang, Sokka and Katara as they just watched how easily the stranger was defeating the pirates.

"Unreal . . ." whispered Sokka in disbelief

A bald pirate tired to deliver a direct kick and Naruto raised his leg and redirect the kick towards the wall, getting it stuck as it allowed Naruto to deliver an axe kick to the knee, shattering the knee as the pirate screamed and was shoved head first to the wall by said blond. Looking up, Naruto saw another pirate tried to attack him with an ax as he jumped off the roof, but Naruto met him head on as he delivered a hard spinning kick at the man's collar bone, breaking it as he was sent crashing through the wall. One tried to sneak attack as he sent a punch and without turning, the blond caught the punch with his left hand and twisted the wrist backward also shattering the bones and flipped him on his back as the pirate cried as he held his hand. One pirate actually managed to sneak behind him as he wrapped his arm around the blonds' neck, but the grip wasn't strong enough as Naruto just simply broke the hold and pulled the arm over his shoulder hard enough to yank the socket out of its place, and delivered a strong elbow strike at the man's ribs, sending him back onto the pile of trash and turned around to deliver a hard right to another pirate that tried the same tactic, sending him crashing face first at the wooden wall, breaking it on impact. Naruto turned around again as he took a small step back and shot his arm forward straight, grabbing onto the shoulder of the attacking pirate, squeezing his hand hard enough to demolish the shoulder and threw the man to the side to intercept another knife strike from the same pirate from before that got hit in the face, but this time Naruto wasn't as kind as the blond simply delivered another hard punch to the face, breaking the nose and losing some of the man's teeth as he was sent back once again, but this time unconscious. Stepping sideways, Naruto managed to avoid a kick that was coming at him and grabbed onto the ankle with both hands, and twisted the ankle with both hands as it spun the man in mid air till he landed on the floor screaming in pain while holding his broken ankle.

Two pirates decided to attack at the same time as they rushed, but Naruto simply grabbed a hold to one of the arms and twisted it backward as it broke the elbow, but seeing the other pirate coming at him, he used the broken limb to block the punch, using his other hand to grab the arm, the blond just tangled both arms as he twisted them. Sensing someone coming at him from his left, Naruto managed to raise his leg to deliver a strong kick to the oncoming pirate in the face, hard enough to knock him out as he pushed the pirates away towards the rest of their shipmates.

"I suggest the rest of you take your wounded men and leave," warned the blond with hard eyes, "or next time I won't be as kindly as to dislocate or break a few bones," and he reached for the handle of his sword, emphasizing his statement

Growing afraid at the blond, the pirates gathered their injured crew men and retreated with their tail between their legs, leaving the group alone in the alley as Aang and his friends let out a sigh of relief. Katara slowly approached the person in front of her, taking into the detail the his appearance

"Um . . . excuse me . . . "said Katara softly, gaining the person's attention as he turned towards her, causing her to blush at how handsome the man look, his well outlined face, and his deep blue eyes, but as she looked deeper into his eyes, she saw an emotion she too was well familiar with, pain of loss, but she was snapped out of her stupor by Naruto

"W-What?"

"I asked if you're OK, your cut, is still bleeding," stated Naruto as he pointed at the light gash that was on her neck, covering it with her hand and felt a warm liquid. Pulling her hand, she saw it was her own blood

"Allow me," Naruto said suddenly as he reached with his hand as it gave a greenish glow, but Sokka intervened, not knowing what the intentions were;

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" demanded the overprotective brother

"Relax kid, I'm just going to heal her cut before there is a slight chance of getting it infected," explained Naruto while he gently cupped Katara's neck, healing it as it slowly closed till he finally receded his hand back and walked towards his bag, hoisting it over his shoulder

"_This feeling . . . it's so warm,_" thought the water-bender of the feeling she felt when the blond touched her neck

"Neat trick!" exclaimed Aang exited as he inspected where Katara was bleeding only to find nothing there. Turning at Naruto, he asked him, "How did you that?"

"It was a technique I learned from the woman I came to consider a mother," said Naruto softly, making Aang feel a little guilty for he didn't intended to bring bad memories;

"I'm sorry"

Waving his hand in a uncaring manner, he replied, "Don't worry about it, but let's leave before those pirates decide to come back with more reinforcements" suggested Naruto, changing the subject at the same time, the three nodded their heads

"You can come with us to our camp," exclaimed Aang excitedly, but Sokka pulled him back and whispered in his ear, "Aang! Are you stupid or something! We don't know if he is a fire nation spy."

"You know, if you're going to be talking about someone, make sure you either do it quietly or say it directly at the person," deadpanned Naruto

Shaking her head disapprovingly, Katara apologized for her brother's comments;

"I apologize for Sokka's lack of manners, but he is right, it is quite suspicious that you appear out of nowhere," explained Katara

"Is it because you're traveling with the Avatar?" it was more than a statement than a question when Naruto spoke while raising an eyebrow, causing Sokka and Aang to immediately get on the defensive with their weapons pointed at the blond;

"Who are you?" demanded Sokka, pointing his machete at him, but the blond just simply reached into his back, causing the group to tense up, but then just blinked in surprised when the blond pulled out a scroll and toss it at Katara, who gasped in surprised when she recognized the hand writing on the scroll;

"This is Gran Gran's handwriting!" exclaimed Katara, shocking her brother. Opening the scroll, she read its contents, then looked at Naruto in disbelief

"What does it say Katara?" asked Sokka while he snatched the scroll from her hands

"It says to trust him, for his purpose is needed to bring back balance to the world," said Katara

"That's it?" exclaimed her brother as he re-reads the letter over and over again

Ignoring her brother's question, she introduced herself along with her companions, "My names Katara, the annoying one is my brother Sokka, and the one with the arrow on his head is Aang, what's your name?"

"I'm Naruto Namikaze, pleased to meet you," replied back the blond as he smiled softly while extending his hand for a handshake, causing Katara to blush lightly and shyly reached for his hand, softly shaking it

"Let's head back to camp," said Aang out of the blue as he waltz towards Naruto, grabbing his hand and dragged him, Katara and Sokka following suit

-\ . /-

Back at their camp, Naruto just stared in disbelief at the creature that just laid fast asleep in front of him.

"What the hell is that?" asked Naruto as he pointed at a giant bison-like with six legs with white fur rested as it snored peacefully, till it slowly opened its eyes and turned towards Naruto, staring at one another for a few seconds till Appa licked Naruto, soaking him all over in saliva

Aang jumped on top of the bison's head excitedly, "This is Appa, my flying bison, and this Momo," presenting a white furred lemur with wings to the blond

"Riiiigggghhtt . . . ." deadpanned Naruto as he shook of the Saliva from his clothes. Turning towards the siblings, "So why where those pirates chasing you?" he asked them as he went and laid down on Appa's side, resting on his fur

"_Hmm this is surprisingly comfortable,_" thought the blond

Katara was doodling with her foot while she looked at the ground, while she was juggling a scroll on her hand, causing Aang and Sokka to gasping shock, but Sokka then got angry;

"No wonder those guys were trying to hack us up, you stole their water-bending scroll," exclaimed her brother

Crossing her arms, she replied a little smugly, "I preferred it as, high risk trading," and Aang just laughed her little joke, "Good one Katara," said Aang

"Wait a minute . . . you mean to tell me you guys were chased just because she stole some scroll?" asked Naruto while his eyebrow was twitching

"It's not just a scroll, it's a water-bending scroll that shows the steps of certain water-bending forms," she explained, and turning towards Sokka, she continued, "and where do you think they got this scroll huh? They stole it from a water-bender."

"It doesn't matter Katara, it still doesn't change the fact that you put our lives in danger or worse if it wasn't for Naruto only for you to just learn some stupid fancy splashes," ranted Sokka as he made some mocking splashing with his hands

"He does carry a valid point Katara," pointed out the blond, "what you did was just plain reckless and stupid," he said, causing the girl's shoulders to drop in sadness while Sokka just grinned and nodded his head happily that finally someone agrees with him, "but it's only fair to steal back from them if they stole it from someone else," he finished saying with a grin while he sat cross-legged, making Katara smile at him and Sokka to drop his jaw in disbelief;

"You're insane!"

"Tell me something I don't know," shrugged the blond

"Besides Sokka, this are real water-bending forms, you know how crucial it is for Aang to learn water-bending," exclaimed Katara looking at her brother in the eye

"Whatever," scoffed Sokka, walking away as he didn't want to argue with her stubborn sister

"What's done is done. You guys managed to steal the scroll, so make the best of it and learn from it," suggested Naruto as he relaxed with his eyes closed with Momo witting on his stomach

"He's right Katara, let's go," said Aang walking towards the river bank

-/ . \-

Meanwhile back at the trading village, Prince Zuko and his uncle, Iroh were roaming through the market, looking for a tile for some board game, only to find none, making Zuko to get angry, exclaiming that it was a complete waste of time only to be proven wrong as his uncle had bought other items for decorations;

"Hmm let's go to that ship," said the general as he walked, pointing at the ship where Aang and his friends first visited

Once inside the ship, Iroh was having a frenzy as he found lots of exquisite items while Zuko just simply looked bored out of his mind, till he caught on the conversation between the merchants within the ship;

"We lost the water tribe girl and the little monk that was traveling with him," said the pirate that received a black eye, courtesy of Naruto

"How were you able to lose three kids when you had fifteen men with you," barked the captain as he glared at his underling

"It wasn't my fault Capt., we had them cornered at an alley and managed to catch them off guard with the girl taken hostage, but some stranger appeared out of nowhere and brutally defeated us," whimpered the pirate, cowering from his captain's gaze

"Grr they will pay for their insolence," growled the captain

Hearing the descriptions that almost resembled the Avatar, he approached them, "This monk, did he had a blue arrow on his head?" asked the prince, while his uncle made a monkey face while holding a monkey statue next to his face

-\ . /-

Back with the gang, Aang and Katara were standing next to the lake, instructing Aang to hold the scroll while she tried to mimic the steps for the water whip.

"I just want to learn this move and then the scroll is all yours," said Katara to Aang

Leaning back against the rock that Sokka was using as a seat, Naruto was watching from his spot how sloppy and rigid Katara went through the steps, causing the water to bubbly rise into the air, hitting Katara right on her forehead as she made the whipping motion in the end, crying out in pain as she held her head while Naruto just simply shook his head with Sokka laughing at her

"What's so funny," asked Katara angrily

"You deserved that," said her sibling, "you been duped Aang, she just wanted the scroll so she could teach herself."

"I'll give him the scroll once I'm done mastering this technique," barked his sister. She went through the steps again and this she managed to get it half right, hitting Momo right in the tail as the lemur turned around and hissed at Katara

"ARGH! Why I can't get this right!" shouted Katara in desperation

Naruto got off the rock and stretched his arms out to get rid of the soreness as he began to walk towards the two. Aang was about to demonstrate how to properly do it, but was interrupted by Naruto as he just shook his head, "I'll handle this."

Turning towards Katara who still looked frustrated, "The first thing you're doing wrong is that you're too tensed up, you need to relax," said the blond with a bored/lazy expression on his face while placing his hands inside his pockets

"What do you know huh? You don't look like you're a water-bender!" snapped Katara and everyone went quiet at her outburst while Naruto just simply stared at her with the same look as he stopped walking, standing in front of her. Taking his hand out of his pocket, slowly raising it into the air, he tapped Katara on her head using his middle finger and index finger, causing her to rub her head from the slight pain.

"Second, never let your anger get a hold of you for you will lack the focus required," wisely said Naruto, "Now, apologize to the lemur for whipping his furry ass," he ordered while pointing towards Momo who was rubbing its behind painfully.

Kneeling in front of Momo, she apologized while she softly caressed the spot where he got hit till she was called back by Naruto to stand with him near the lake

"Aang, let me see the steps for the form," and Aang brought the scroll to Naruto, looking carefully at each step in order to perform the water whip. Nodding his head at Aang, he turned back towards Katara in sensei mode.

"As I said before, you're too tense when performing the steps," said Naruto as he slowly began to do every step perfectly, slowly as if it was a slow dance, leaving the water-bender in training in awe, "No matter what style of fighting, whether be used for bending or not, you must always maintain your focus, yet with an empty mind," he said as he was half way done through the form, "Finding your balance while shifting your weight as you go through each of the steps, but the hard part is to maintain it as you go along," he finished saying, ending perfectly as he went to the last stance of the form.

"Now your turn," instructed Naruto.

Katara nodded and tried to mimic Naruto's movement, but wasn't as successful, but she wasn't as rigid as before while Naruto watched with a keen eye in seeing what mistakes she was making till she was done as she reached the final form

"How did I do?" she asked nervously as she saw Naruto had an unreadable expression on his face;

"You did well, if you were trying to learn earth-bending," said the blond a little harshly causing Katara to cringe. Aang jumped to her defense, "Don't talk to her like that! She's doing the best she can!"

Ignoring the Avatar's outburst, the blond continued his lecture, "Katara, you think that bending is to simply master the forms? To be able to perform the difficult of moves? No, till you can bend the essence of water itself, you'll never be considered a true master."

"The essence itself?" asked the girl, confused at this logic

Nodding his head, he clarified, "In order to truly master water-bending, you must be like the water itself, formless . . . shapeless . . . like water, for if you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into the bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot, for water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my young trainee." (A/N)

She just stood there as she listened to every word he was saying, mesmerizing it into her mind as everything was starting to become clear as to what she was doing wrong. Getting into the first stance, she slowly began to repeat the steps for the water whip, performing it with a more relaxed yet focused mind with lots of fewer mistakes from the previous tries, finally ending it with a perfect stance. Looking back at Naruto, she saw he just simply nodded his head in approval with smile on his face. Happy that she had done well, she ran up to the blond and surprisingly, hugged him tight, till she realized what she had done, she rapidly separated herself from him blushing madly, stuttering as she apologized. Caught off guard, Naruto simply waved it off.

"That's enough practice for today, let's rest for today," said Naruto as he walked off towards the forest to catch some fish

Later at night, the group was around the camp fire, cooking the fish that Naruto had caught earlier over an open fire, enjoying the warmness that the fire gave. Naruto was seen sitting cross-legged, poking with a stick while he watched the fire as it danced around the scorching the fish, his mind drifting on the loss he has suffered. He was denied to grow old with his friends, with his wife, denied he was watching the birth of his son, to be a father as he watched his grow to become a man. His home and way of life was taken from him by Sasuke.

"_Sasuke . . . _"the blond avatar narrowed his eyes angrily as he growled within his mind as his anger began to rise, slowly crushing the wooden stick he had on his grip till it finally was crushed in half by his strength, snapping him out of his trance, causing his three companions to look at him curiously, rubbing the back of his head sleeplessly he apologized till he smelled that the fish was ready and passed out a fish to everyone, eating peacefully till they were done. Sokka and Aang feeling full and tired, bid a good night, leaving Katara and Naruto by themselves.

Curious, Katara scooted next to Naruto, "Tell me about you, Naruto," she said, catching the blond off guard

"What is it that you want to know about Katara?" he asked her, barely tilting his head towards her

"Do you know any bending?" she asked him randomly

Shaking his head, "No I don't, I just use the style I was taught by my master, despite my inability to bend, but to compensate for that, I also managed to learn a swordsmanship to help me in battle," he half-lied

"And what bending discipline you were taught?" she asked him, intrigued as she remembers how he took on the pirates and defeated them effortlessly

"I was taught the fire bending discipline," he replied, causing her to gasp in shock, "My master taught it to me as a means of surviving in this war when I was young, and when we parted ways, I took upon myself to modify it to a point it would be useful against any bender, no matter what the element."

"You were taught by a fire-bender!" she almost shouted at him, scooting away from him.

"Are you going to judge just because of the background my master came from or are you going to judge me as for the person that I am?" the blond asked her without turning his head, "Never judge someone for the actions of others, for not many agree with the opinions other may have, just as I don't agree with this war."

Seeing the logic on his words, Katara calmed down somewhat, but was still unnerved, "I apologize," but the man in front of her just simply waved it off, "how can you be so laid back?" she asked him

"If I thought about all the times my village used to scorn my existence, I would miss the bright side of life," was her reply, the two stayed quiet as they continued to watch the fire.

"Do you have a home or a family?" she asked him suddenly, getting Naruto uneasy when he was asked if he had a family as a lump began to develop on his throat, staying quiet for a few minutes, slowly closing his eyes

"I don't have a home . . . or a family . . . not anymore . . . I lost it all to a fire-bender that wielded black flames," muttered the blond softly, causing Katara to regret her outburst of comparing him to the fire nation soldiers, but felt somewhat happy, that they both share a common bond;

"I know the pain you going through," whispered Katara softly, having heard her, Naruto snapped his head sharply at her, somewhat angry at her claim;

"What would you know of losing someone you care for?" he asked, glaring at her angrily, but despite his anger, she just stared at him softly with those light blue eyes of hers;

"When I was little, I lost my mother to a Fire Nation raid as they were searching for me, just because I am a water-bender," she replied, looking down at the fire sadly recalling the day she lost her mother with some tears beginning to develop in her eyes. Hearing this, Naruto felt bad for almost snapping at her, "I'm sorry."

Shaking her head softly, she said, "Its ok, at least we both know that we aren't alone when we mourn our loved ones," and with that she got up and walked away towards her sleeping bag, leaving Naruto by himself.

Getting a bit tired himself; Naruto made sure everyone was asleep, making sure the coast was clear, the blond simply waved his hand around in the air and form a small ball of water out the moisture in the air, splashing the fire to extinguish it before leaning back on Appa to drift off to his slumber

-/ . \-

In the middle of the night, while everyone was asleep, Katara woke up and gathered the scroll, heading out somewhere further away from camp so she wouldn't wake up the group while she trained. Repeating the form she did, but with more ease from the help she had from Naruto, exclaiming happily as she almost had it down, unfortunately, she didn't countered to be heard by the banished prince with his new allies, as they searched through the river banks for the teen and the stranger that stole their scroll. Hearing her voice, the pirates landed ashore, alerting Katara as she went to investigate what had caused those noises as she peeked through the bushes, only to find the ship that belong to the pirates along with a small vessel that belonged to the Fire Nation navy. Slowly backing away, she retreated in order to alert the others, but she was caught by Prince Zuko, holding her hostage as he tried to find out the Avatar's location, but was unsuccessful. Bribing the pirates to help him once more in capturing the avatar, he headed out to their camp location.

-\ . /-

Morning had arrived, and Naruto slowly began to wake up, noticing right away that Katara was missing. Jumping to his feet, the blond alerted the other two;

"Sokka! Aang! Get up, Katara's missing," barked Naruto a he grabbed his sakabato, looking around for signs of Katara, causing Sokka and Aang to shot up from their bags.

Looking around, Sokka called out, "Where did she go?" reaching for their bag; he immediately noticed the scroll was missing, "What's wrong?" asked Aang still half asleep

"I don't believe it," scoffed Sokka, throwing the bag to the floor, "she took the scroll; she's obsessed with that thing. It's just a matter of time before she gets us in deep trouble."

Suddenly, Naruto grabbed the handle of his as he got on the defensive, scaring the two as they hugged each other in fright, "What the hell is wrong with you!" shouted Sokka

"We are not alone," muttered the blond as he looked around, never dropping his guard. Letting go of Aang, Sokka got up and walked towards Naruto, "You're being paranoid, do you see anyone aro . . . "said Sokka as he extended both his arms forward in emphasis as to they were alone, but before he could finish his sentence, a rope with a heavy attached at the end shot out of nowhere and tangled itself around his wrists, pulling Sokka towards the bushes where a pirate wrapped in bandages stood, twirling around the rope in the air before launching it once again at Sokka but missed as he rolled out of the way towards his bag where his machete laid, charging at the pirate.

"Sokka!" shouted Naruto as he was ready to go help him, but was interrupted by two pirates wearing what appeared to be black ninja outfits, wearing oni masks, each carrying fencing swords, "So you must be the golden haired stranger that beat our comrades," stated one of the masked swordsmen

"We'll teach you not to meddle in our affairs," stated the other one

Both raised their swords as they got into their stance and charged at the blond with their swords pointed forward. Naruto simply waited as they came, and began to dodge as soon as the first strikes began. Dodging, parrying left and right, side stepping side to side or ducking underneath as he retreated, drifting further away from camp, with the masked oni pirates chasing after him, managing to nick him a few times as he was barely able to dodge some of their strikes. Naruto growled as he was kept on the defensive, using the sheath as means of parrying some of the sword strikes, unfortunately for him, for things got worse for he didn't notice a small hole behind him. Stepped right in it, he got his foot stuck in it, falling backwards as it gave the oni pirates a chance to end it as they dashed forward, crossing their swords with the intent to kill;

"Touché!"

But the blond countered by placing the sheathed sword in between the swords, using his other leg to push himself forward to stop them on their tracks as they struggled to cut through the scabbard in order to reach the blond, but to their surprise, Naruto wasn't even struggling that much as he used one arm to maintain them at bay. Getting a good distance from them as he pushed them back without much force, Naruto got his foot out of the hole while gripping the handle of his sword, unsheathing it as he raised it in the air and without warning he swiftly stroked them down as he danced around them, swinging his sword at blinding speed till he stopped a couple of steps away from them with both parties standing still till Naruto slowly placed his sword back on his sheath with an audible click. The swords shattered to pieces and the two swordsmen slowly fell to the ground moaning in pain inflicted by the blond.

"That takes care of them," muttered the blond noticing that he was far from camp and began to run. Once he reached the camp site, he looks around his surroundings for any sign of fighting, but found none, "Sokka! Aang!" shouted Naruto, but they weren't nowhere in sight.

"Damn it!" cursed the blond, "Where could have they been taken?" he asked himself he sought any trails that could lead him to his new found friends, till a thought hit him, "_Wait a minute, I could track them the same way I did to find the original Pain,_" he thought as he kneeled down to one knee on the floor with his eyes closed, placing his hand on the ground as he concentrated his energy, bring the tattoos on his arm to life as he tried to feel the life force of the gang. His vision became blurry for a few seconds till he found the location of where they were being held captive at, snapping his eyes open, he got up and turned towards their location;

"Bingo," he said as he ran at high speeds towards their location

-\ . /-

Back at the place where Katara was first capture and being held tied by her hands onto the tree, looking down ashamed since it was her fault they were capture. Turning towards Aang, who had his hands tied as he was being held by a pirate with her brother Sokka, who was struggling trying to tear the ropes using his 'strength', "Aang I'm so sorry, this is my entire fault."

Aang looking stoic, he tried to make her feel better, "No Katara, it isn't," causing Sokka to twitch in annoyance

"As a matter of fact, it kind of is," said Iroh from the background to Katara

"Alright, give me the boy," ordered Zuko to the captain while holding the scroll in his hands,

"You give me the scroll first," countered the captain as he held Aang by the shoulders.

Naruto landed on top of a tree branch without sound, sitting right underneath Katara, watching, and waiting for the right moment to jump in until Sokka caught a sight of him. Giving him the sign to keep quiet and mouthed slowly to make a distraction to which he nodded and an idea popped into his mind as he heard the argument/conversation between the two, adding his own to coins of copper into the equation;

"You really are going to trade the Avatar over for a piece of parchment?" asked Sokka smugly as he leaned towards the surprised captain. Seeing what the water peasant was up to, he shouted at the captain;

"Don't listen to him! He's just trying to turn us against one another," growled the banished prince, but the captain didn't pay him no heed as he turned towards Aang, "Your friend is the avatar?"

"Sure is, and I bet he would fetch a lot more in the black market," suggested Sokka, pretending like he had no idea as to what he was doing, catching the attention of the other pirates

"Shut your damn mouth you peasant!" raged Zuko, while Aang also suggested to keep his mouth shut, nervous as he notice the greedy looks that the pirates were giving him, making the situation get worse

However, uncaringly Sokka continued, "Why? I'm just saying, it's bad businesses," seeing that he had them eating from the palm of his hand, he gave one more final nudge, "Just imagine how much more the Fire Lord himself would give for the Avatar, you guys would be set for life," exclaimed Sokka as he just clasped his hands together

Convinced by Sokka's words the captain turned at Zuko, "You can keep the scroll, we can buy a hundred of them with the reward we can get from the kid," and with that he and his crew turned towards their ship, bringing Sokka and Aang in tow

His eyes turned dark as he glared at them, "You'll regret breaking a deal with me," and sent a kick, causing fire to sprout out of his feet towards the pirates, who managed to dodge the flames and reached for their weapons. The same pirate that got his ass handed down by Naruto rushed towards the fire-benders while launching smoke screens as they exploded once they hit the ground, creating large clouds of smokes as the pirates jumped in it to engage with the prince's soldiers, while the prince himself engaged in battle against the captain.

Seeing that everyone else was fighting among each other, Naruto jumped down the tree, landing behind Katara;

"Who's there?" she asked getting tensed

"Relax, it's me," replied the blond as he used with his wind affinity to cut the ropes, setting her free;

"Thanks," she said as she rubbed the soreness out of her wrists,

"No problem, now go head towards the ship, I'll send your brother and Aang once I've set them free and pull them out of the melee," he ordered, "I'll get their attention and buy you guys enough time to get out of here," getting ready to jump into the fight, but was stopped by Katara when she grabbed his arm;

"But what about you?" she asked worriedly, "Aren't you going to come with us?"

"Don't worry about me, Katara, taking Aang to the Northern Tribe is more important, I can handle a couple of pirates," he assured her, "I'll catch up once I make sure they won't follow us, k?"

Katara didn't want to leave him, but he was right. Nodding her head, she let go of his arm and ran towards the pirate's ship.

Naruto turned towards the plumes of smoke and jumped into it with his sword drawn, immediately stroke down pirates and soldiers alike. A soldier went with a thrust of his halberd from behind, but simply jumped and delivered a spinning back kick right in the face of the soldier and ducked under to avoid a sword slash from a pirate. Naruto slashed the man upward, and continued slashing to the side as he intercepted another soldier coming from his left, hitting him on the stomach, causing the man to groan in pain and pass out as he landed on the ground. Using the vibrations on the ground, Naruto tried to find Aang, and found him he did as he began to run towards him.

Aang was walking with precaution through the smoke, for he couldn't see a thing except feel the change of air currents around him whenever someone was attacking, dodging and evading out of instinct. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, causing him to scream as he turned to blow the person away, but stopped once he found out it was Naruto that had surprised him.

Using the blade of his sword, the blond cut the ropes and freed the air-bender, "Go to Katara, she's heading towards the pirates ship, help her set sail and get out of here," he told Aang;

"What about you? You can't take on all these pirates and fire benders!" exclaimed the Avatar

"I'll be fine," re-assured the blond, "Now go, I'll send Sokka once I find him" - "Aang! Where are you?" – "That is if that idiot doesn't get himself killed first," deadpanned the blond Avatar, "Now go!" and with that, Aang ran, jumping out of the smoke from above, seeing that Sokka was crawling out of the cloud of smoke as well, he called out to him;

"Sokka! Run!" Seeing Aang sprinting towards the ship, he followed, finding Katara trying to push the ship into the water but was unsuccessful. Both boys then decided to help her, but despite with the extra strength, they didn't make it budge, resorting to rise the water level using water-bending. Once the ship was on water, the group climbed aboard and set course away from the enemies.

The captain and Zuko were still fighting, parrying sword strikes and flame attacks, that is until Zuko's uncle intervened, looking at the captain;

"Are you busy fighting that you don't see your own ship setting sail?"

"Uncle, we don't have time for your proverbs," ranted the banished prince

Pointing towards the river, Iroh exclaimed, "It's no proverb."

Both men turned towards where the general was point at, and the captain gasped when he saw his own ship sailing away, "My ship!" and was about to run with his crew that had claimed the prince's ship, but the sound of groaning and yelling stopped him, gaining the attention of the fire-benders as well, turned towards where the others were fighting, only to find a pile of bodies laying on the ground, both soldiers and pirates alike, as a lone man kept fighting against everyone, striking everyone who stood in his path down.

"Gold hair, black clothing with three marks on each of his cheeks," muttered the captain, "it's him!" exclaimed while growling, and rushed with his sword poised to pierce him from behind.

Dispatching another pirate with a hard punch straight at the face while blocking with his sword an halberd wielded by a fire nation soldier, the blond sensed someone coming from behind, and turned slightly to see someone, who he presumed to be the captain of the crew, coming at him with the intent to kill. Rapidly, the blond parried the halberd upward and launched a hard kick into the soldier's chest, sending into a tree and landed unconscious, so he could bring his sword up and block the thrust for a few seconds till he slightly twisted his body to the side as he used the captain's momentum against him as he lost his footing and went forward, allowing Naruto enough space to spin his body, delivering a sinning round house kick into the back of the captain's head, knocking him out as well.

Iroh, attentively, was paying attention at the young man that fought the pirate, and was impressed with the level of skill he portrayed. Placing his hand on top of his nephew's shoulder, stopping him before he even had a chance of engaging against this man, he said, "Zuko, go and try to get back our ship, I'll deal with him myself."

Zuko turned back towards his uncle as he was about to argue, but the look on his uncle's eyes told him differently. They were hard and cold, for this was the Dragon of the West that stood in front of him now, not his lazy, bubbly uncle, and so nodding his head, he ran passing the blond as he noticed that he was also staring back at his uncle.

Iroh walked towards Naruto, till he stood a few feet away from him, glaring at each other's eyes without saying a word;

"Your swordsmanship skills as well as your fighting ability is superb," praised the general, surprising Naruto slightly, but managed to regain his composure and replied back with a smirk, "I thank you for the compliment, but you're no slouch yourself, for I can see in your eyes the hidden power within you, as well as the wisdom from going through so many battles."

Taken aback at this, Iroh looked into the blonds' eyes and was shocked to see such eyes in one so young still, eyes of a man who has been through hell and back from fighting, curious asked him, "How is it for someone not a few years older than my nephew, have such eyes?"

Sheathing his sword and placing onto the ground, Naruto assumed his fire-bending stance as he replied, "Never judge a book by its cover, for you'll be surprise, but our time for talking has ended, hasn't it?"

Nodding softly, the general went also into his fire stance and both waited for the unseen signal.

Both of them stood still till the waves crashed against the rocks and Naruto rushed at Iroh with his first cocked back, and Iroh just jumped and did a double kick, launching to fire embers at the blond, which Naruto dodged without problem, but the general wasn't finished as he sent punch after punch, launching multiple fire blasts at the blond, who either blocked or swatted away the embers without problem, surprising Iroh as he saw the youngster wasn't getting burnt marks on his skin, and passed his defenses so easily, as the Naruto began his assault of sending punches at the general. Iroh blocked and parried some of the punches, at times he had to jump over kicks or duck under them, and countered back as he launched his own parry of punches, both dodging each blow, or countering and blocking as they side stepped side to side till they both came to a lock with both their hands clasped, trying to oust power each other, staring at one another with defiance, till Iroh breathed fire from his mouth, covering the blond whole as he was sent back, but Naruto stood unharmed, resuming his position. The general retook back his position, deciding to wait patiently for his opponent to get in range to deliver devastating blow, as he kept on sending weak attacks to lower his guard.

Naruto was rushing towards the general again, easily parrying the fire embers the fire-bender kept sending, "_What's he up to?_" thought Naruto, but seeing the general launching a ground streamed of fire, making Naruto to jump in the air straight at Iroh, but he had anticipated this as he cocked both his fists back and launched a barrel punch at the blond once he was in range, fire exploding from his fists into the blonds' chest, launching him onto the river, steam rising from the water. Iroh waited for the blond to rise up from the water, but nothing happened, until the water shot up with the blond jumping out of the water, but something was different in him this time, that Iroh could tell, for some strange markings had now appeared on his arms and his eyes still retained their blue color, but the only difference was that the pupils were slit instead of round. Taking no chances, Iroh breathed deep and launched a strong fire stream when he extended both hands forward, but to his surprise, the blond also extended both his hands forward, launching his own stream of fire, but to his shock, its fire was pure white. Both streams met head on, but Naruto's easily overpowered Iroh's as it engulfed it whole.

Seeing the danger he was in, Iroh jumped out of the way in time, watching the stream flow through, till it dispersed completely before hitting the forest. Looking back, he saw the blond rushing at him with his fist covered in flames, ready to hit him, but Iroh managed to counter by sending a crescent kick, launching a crescent flame at the blond, and having no choice, the blond shot his fist forward clashing with the fire, causing a small explosion.

After the smoke cleared, both Iroh and Naruto faced each other again as they stood in their stance;

"You're good, old man," complimented the blond, causing the old man to chuckle, "So are you my boy, what is your name?" said the general

"My name is Naruto Namikaze," replied the blond, "And what is my opponent's name?"

"The name is Iroh, known as the Dragon of the West," replied the general

"Well Iroh, I hate to end the fun, but this is where I must take my leave, but rest assured, we shall meet again" said Naruto before he used a fire sunshin to disappear, causing Iroh to shield his eyes from the extreme heat

Uncovering his eyes, the general stared at the spot where Nartuo stood, grinning, he muttered, "That we will, Namikaze that we will."

-/ . \-

Meanwhile, the group was still sailing away from the pirates who stole Zuko's ship in order to catch up to them, and caught with them they did as they tried to take back their ship, but Aang proved to be a challenge as he send them sailing overboard using his limited knowledge of water-bending, with a little help from Katara in the end, who finally managed to learn the water whip. As for Sokka, he had his hands full as he struggled with two pirates, but only managed to get his ass handed to him in the end. The two pirates that were tussling with Sokka were soon sent sailing thanks to Aang with a little air-bending.

"Aang look!" shouted Katara as she pointed forward, revealing a huge waterfall ahead

"Oh no . . ." whispered Aang, not noticing a pirate, the same one who has a black eye, courtesy of Naruto, managing to sneak behind him. Feeling someone behind, Aang turned around just stared at the pirate, till he pulled out the whistle he had bought earlier and began to blow on it. The bruised pirate just looked at the air-bender as if he was stupid, and raised his sword again to strike him down, but Sokka intervened by jumping from behind and sent him overboard, looking at Aang as if he were crazy;

"Have you lost your damn mind! This no time for flute practice!" yelled Sokka

Running down the deck, she yelled, "We can stop the boat, Aang, together pushed towards the water!"

And so they began to bend the water to push it backward, creating small whirlpools at the edge of the water fall;

"It worked!" exclaimed the water-bender excitedly, that is until Sokka turned around and ruined the moment;

"We have another problem," said Sokka, pointing back at the stream, where Zuko's ship was coming straight at them head on, colliding on the side as it sent the three of them overboard and down the waterfall as they jumped off the ship, only to be saved by Appa long before they splashed down below.

"I knew the bison whistle will come in handy, thanks Appa" said Aang, while Sokka sit at the back, relieved at being saved, "Yea buddy, we owe you one," and Appa just rumbled his welcomes

Kneeling over the edge of the saddle, looking at the ground from above, Katara was trying to spot their blond friend, but couldn't spot him anywhere. Sokka seeing her acting weird, he voiced his concern;

"What's wrong Katara?"

"I'm trying to find Naruto, but I can't see him anywhere. I hope he didn't get caught by the pirates" said Katara in concern

"I'm sure he managed to escape, I mean, after all, he was decimating those pirates with just a sword like they were not even a challenge," exclaimed Sokka, as he admired the blonds' skills with the sword while leaning back on a traveling bag, a bag which Aang quickly recognized;

"That's Naruto's traveling bag!"

Getting off the bag, the group noticed a small noted attached to it. Katara reached up for the note and began to read out loud;

_I apologize for leaving like this, _

_But for now we must go our separate ways,_

_For I will gather as much information as I can _

_About future Fire Nation attacks,_

_Till then, stay safe_

_Naruto _

She finished reading it with a tinge of sadness in her voice, while her brother softly an arm around her shoulder;

"Cheer up, he said we'll meet again, and he doesn't like the type of person to break a promise," soothed her brother, to which she simply just nodded as they flew into the distance

-\ . /-

Meanwhile, from afar atop of a tree branch, the blond avatar watched as they flew far away. Hoisting his sheathed sword over his shoulder, Naruto jumped off the tree to land on the ground and began walking towards his next destination, but not before he looked back once again to where now the flying bison became nothing but a white dot;

"Stay alive till we meet again," muttered the blond as he resumed his walk and disappeared deep within the forest, leaving no traces of him ever standing there . . . . .

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TBC . . .

A/N: Naruto's new outfit that I was describing is the one that Lee Bailing from shaman king wears, and I don't own the quote I used.


	7. Book I Chapter 5

Well first, I like to apologize for the grammar mistake I made when I misspelled the prince's name, as to some of you pointed it out and made corrections about it. With that taken care of, I'm pleased to see that my story is considered one of the best Naruto/Avatar crossovers by some of you, and I'll keep doing my best to entertain you readers, and as well I appreciate some of the ideas that some of you have given me

Story Status: Hits: 13,809 Favs: 87 Alerts: 87

(A/N): explanation at the end of the chapter every time this is posted

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or Avatar: the Last Air-bender

Avatar time-line:

Episode "Imprisoned" Naruto will be the one going instead of the Avatar gang

Both episodes "Winter Solstice" will stay as canon with just a slight modification when Aang talks to Roku at the 2nd part of "Winter Solstice"

Episode "Jet" will stay same as cannon

Episode "The Great Divide" will stay same as cannon

Episode "The Storm" will stay same as cannon

Episode "The Blue Spirit" will stay same as cannon with slight modifications at the end

And now . . . On with the show!

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_Water_

_Earth_

_Fire_

_Air_

_Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony,_

_Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked,_

_Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them,_

_But when the world needed him most, he vanished._

_One hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, _

_An air-bender named Aang, _

_But unknown to us, the avatar of legend, a man named Naruto had reawakened._

_And although Aang's air-bending skills are amazing and Naruto may be the crimson avatar, they both have a lot to learn before they're ready to save anyone._

_But . . ._

_I believe Aang and Naruto can save the world._

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Previously on Avatar of the Four Dragons:

_Zuko realizing who he was, he looked at the bald kid incredulously, "You're the Avatar!"_

-/ . \-

_"It says to trust him, for his purpose is needed to bring back balance to the world," said Katara_

-\ . /-

"_I want the Avatar to be found and captured, dead or alive by any means necessary!" barked general Zhao_

-/ . \-

_"Stay alive till we meet again," muttered the blond as he resumed his walk and disappeared deep within the forest, leaving no traces of him ever standing there_

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Bringer of Hope;

The Will of Fire Ignites

-\ II /-

\ . /

Deep inside a rocky forest, the blond avatar was sitting cross-legged in front of a camp fire he had made a while ago, cooking the fish he had caught as he pulled out the map he had gotten from the old merchant, to find out how much further he was away from the village;

"Hmm I'm not that far from the village now. If I run at the same pace I have been for the past day and a half, I would reach it in a mere couple of minutes," pondered the blond, "but it does get tiring running at shinobi speeds, walking at normal pace wouldn't hurt."

Then he heard a loud growl coming from around him and grabbed the sword by the hilt in case a beast tried to jump him to make a meal out of him, but the growl was heard again and this time was louder. Blinking, Naruto looked at his stomach and patted, feeling it growling as it told him that his stomach was on empty and the smell of his dinner being ready just made it him even more hungrier. Placing the sword against the rock, the blond sat down and reached for one of the fish, ready to dig in into his meal till a loud rumbling noise was heard through the forest as the ground began to quake for a while. Moving his eyes from side to side, trying to sense where the quake came from but couldn't pin point its source, so shrugging his shoulders, the blond opened his mouth wide enough to take a big bite out of his untouched meal, but an even stronger quake shook through the forest, strong enough to cause Naruto to lose grip of his meal as it landed on the dirt, making him go anime teary eye as he mourned that didn't had nothing to fill his empty stomach, but then turned serious as he heard the sound of crumbling rocks nearby, grabbing his sword, he went to investigate who was responsible.

As he got closer and closer, he hid behind a tree trunk and looked up ahead, noticing a young teen wearing the usual earth kingdom clothing, with long dark brown hair with a bun of hair on top of his head with a green bandanna wrapped around his head to keep some of the hair reaching his face, practicing earth-bending as he moved large boulders of rock around before slamming them against the terrain, creating another rumble across the forest, making Naruto raise his eye brows in mild surprise

"So that's what created the tremors," remarked the blond, then he sat on the trunk to watch the kid go through his drills, impressing him a bit, "Hmm not bad, but he still has years ahead to fully master earth-bending."

Then a thought came to mind as another tremor shook;

"That little bastard made me waste a good fish," muttered the blond with his eyes going thin lined;

"Oh well, no point in dwelling about it," said the blond as he got from the trunk and patted his bum to dust off any dirt, "Now to go get acquainted with the young fella."

And so, Naruto walked down the valley while he shouted, "Oi! What's your name?"

The teen turned around when he heard Naruto speak, and suddenly got nervous which surprised the blond, and surprised him even more when he turned tail and began run away from him, not before he jumped into the air and slightly raised his hands in the air, causing a small rock slide to block the path he was taking as he left a dumbfounded avatar behind;

"Now that was rude," muttered the blond as he walked towards the barricade and stood in front of it. Placing his hands together in a prayer form in front of him so the blond could extend his arms forward to the sides with his palms outward turning into fists, causing the rocky barricade to split apart as they crashed within the terrain, clearing the path for him to follow;

"Might as well follow him, he may be from the village that's occupied by the fire nation," pondered the blond as he went his way.

-/ . \-

Arriving at the village, the blond took some time to look around town to see how the situation was around here, not before he got a bite to eat of course, since he was still on an empty stomach. After he had found a food establish that cooked roasted duck, he went inside and ordered his meal, eating till his stomach was full and paid with a gold coin he had 'borrowed' from one of the pirates from their last encounter. The owner of the establishment said he couldn't give him any change for he didn't had the money to pay him back, but Naruto just shook his head and told him to keep it all, and the owned thanked him kindly as the blond walked out, making him wonder just how bad the situation was around here;

"_The will of the people are broken, as if they have giving up their will to live,_" though the blond as he continued to walk through town till he notice a straw hat that reminded him of the Akatsuki, the only difference was that it was black and it didn't had the tags around it that used to cover their faces. Liking its design, the blond walked to the stand and reached for it to try it out, and noticed that it fit him perfectly;

"How much for the hat ma'am?" he asked the old lady behind the counter

"Ten copper coins, sonny," replied the old lady. The blond reached into this pouch and pulled out a silver coin and placed it at the table;

"Keep the change ma'am," he said as he walked away from the stable only to see the same young teen that had run away from him back at the forest walk inside an item shop, closing the door behind him;

"So I was correct, you do reside on this village," murmured the blond as he walked towards the same item shop that the unknown earth-bender had walked into

-/ I \-

Inside the shop, the teen walked inside the shop with a smile on his face as he greeted the person that stood in front of him as she tended the items that rested on the counter;

"Hello mother," greeted the teen, causing said a wrinkled woman with gray eyes, with the same style of clothing like her son, her long light brown hair singing with the twist of her body as she looked at her son with a stern look;

"Haru, you're late!" scolded the mother with a frown, but then she smiled softly at her son flinched, "Get started on your chores."

"Yes mother," responded Haru with a small smile on his face, till someone spoke from the entrance of the shop;

"You know, it's very impolite to run away from someone that's asking for your name, you know," said Naruto as he leaned on the doorframe with his newly bought hat hanging on the back of his neck with a frown on his face, making Haru's mother to be overcautious towards him as she saw her son flinch at the blond man's claim of where they met;

"Haru . . . who's this?" she asked him slowly

Glancing at his mother nervously, he replied, "No one mother, he has me confused with someone else,"

"I don't know what game you're playing, but I know you're that earth-bender back in the forest," countered the blond

The eyes of Haru's mother went wide in fear as she heard what her son was doing on his spare time. Quickly she ran towards the blond and grabbed him by his vest and pulled him inside forcefully, closed the wooden window shields and closed the door, locking it in the process;

"You were doing what!" she exclaimed as she turned her head back, glaring straight at Haru who was fidgeting under her gaze

"Mom! He's crazy, don't listen to him," pleaded Haru to his mother, and then pointed at the blonde's attire, "I mean, look at the way he is dressed."

"You know that's dangerous! You what would happen if they caught you earth-bending," exclaimed the mother with worry in her eyes

Meanwhile, said blond looked down at his clothing, then looked up with a raised eyebrow looking directly at Haru, voicing out his discontent;

"Now that's just rude," deadpanned Naruto

Suddenly a knock was heard, causing Haru's mom to peer through the wooden blinds only to see a group of fire-benders waiting on the other side of the door waiting patiently;

"Fire nation . . ." gasped the mother,

"Calm down and act natural," suggested the blond

Taking a deep breath, Haru's mother opened the door to the fire-benders, allowing the tax collector to walk in arrogantly as he surveyed the inside of the shop, only to raise an eyebrow at the mysterious man with a black straw hat holding a sword on his hand while he talked to the shop owner's son, minding their own business;

"What do you want? I already paid you this week," said the woman

Looking at her from the corner of his eyes, the tax collector answered her question;

"Tax just doubled, you wouldn't want an accident to occur now wouldn't you?" snidely he said as he bended a small ball of fire within his hands, causing her to take smalls steps back in fear "Fire . . . sometimes so hard to control," and clasped his hands together to put out the small ember

As he watched the scene, Naruto could not help but grit his teeth in anger while gripping his sword tightly, watching the woman begrudgingly lower her head in resignation and went to collect her safe box where she kept the money and opened it, revealing a couple coins of silver and one of gold, while the rest of the coins were copper. Once the money was given, the tax collector took the copper pieces and dropped them to the ground;

"You can keep the copper ones," sneered the fire bender as he turned towards the door, but stopped once he caught sight of the blond with half of his face covered by his hat. Walking towards him, he arrogantly sneered at the blond;

"You're not from around here, are you?" asked the captain, "If you wish to stay in this town, you have to pay a fee," by now he was eying the blond's sword, "and this should be enough to pay that fee."

The greedy tax collector reached to grab the sword, but Naruto grasped the wrist and squeezed hard, causing the fire bender to grit his teeth by the pressure applied in limb. The fire bender glared at the blond, trying to intimidate him. The blond slowly raised his head up, giving the tax collector a view of his eyes, giving the man a cold chill down his spine as he stared into those eyes, cold ice-less, blue eyes that promised certain death. Naruto relinquished his grip from the man's wrist as said man nursed his limb as he backed away with fear evident in his eyes;

"Yo-You don-don't know who you're messing with," growled the man as he walked out of the door slamming it shut, leaving the mother to pick the copper coins from the ground while Haru leaned against the counter in anger

"How long has this been going on?" asked the blond as he stared at the door the fire-bender walked out

"For five years," responded the mother, "Fire Lord Ozai uses our village's coal mines to fuel his ships."

"They're nothing but thugs, they steal from us and everyone here is too much of a coward to do anything about," growled Haru as he crossed his arms

"Be quiet Haru, don't talk like that," scolded his mother

Raising an eyebrow, "You're an earth-bender, why don't you do something about it?" asked the blond

Looking at the blond with a hard stare, "Earth-bending is forbidden, it has caused nothing but misery for the people of this village, he must never use his abilities," she said as she tilted her head at an angry Haru

"Never use his abilities?" retorted Naruto as he stared back, "You're asking him to give up a part of who he is. What he has is a gift that can light up the courage the people of this village and fight back against the fire nation."

"You don't understand," muttered the mom as she lowered her head

"I'll tell you what I understand, I understand that he can help fight back. What's the worst thing the Fire Nation can do that they haven't done already?" retorted the blond

With a heavy sigh, she answered, "They could take Haru away . . . just like they took his father."

At this response, the blond flinched, not expecting that kind of response as he saw Haru lowered his head with his eyes closed

-\ I /-

Later that day, Naruto was allowed to spend the night at the shed of their home, as Haru opened the doors and showed him inside;

"My mom says you can spend the night here, but you have to leave tomorrow morning," said the earth-bender

"I appreciate your kindness," gestured Naruto as he slightly bowed, "and I would to apologize for speaking out of turn, I didn't know about your father."

Taking a deep sigh, Haru waved it off;

"That's ok, although it's funny," causing the blond to raise an eyebrow in curiosity

"How so?"

"The way you spoke back at the store and stood up to that fire bender, it reminded me of him," he explained as he walked out of the shed with Naruto walking after him as he listened as they both headed out at the forest behind the farm, "My father was very courageous. When the fire nation invaded, he and the other earth-benders were outnumbered ten – one, but they still fought back anyway.

"Your father, he sounds like a great man," complimented Naruto, causing Haru to smile fondly

"After the attack, they rounded my father and every other earth-bender and took them away, haven't heard word from them ever since."

"And that's why you hide your abilities?" asked the blond, getting a nod in response as they continued walking into the forest as the stopped at a hill

"But the problem is, the only way I can feel close to my father, is when I practice my earth-bending, he taught me everything I know," he explained as he looked into the sunset as a long silence descended upon the two

"You're lucky," suddenly said the blond, causing Haru to look at him in surprise;

"Why would you say that?"

"I was born an orphan into this world, I have no memories of my parents for they died right after I was born, but the only memories I have of them are the stories of the people that knew and fought alongside them, telling me how great people they both were as they care more for others than themselves," explained the avatar as he turned around and began to walk towards the forest, with Haru following behind him;

"But that isn't enough is it?" the young earth-bender asked him

"No it isn't," replied the blond quietly and both took a long way back as they slowly walked to the house through the road that took them the mines. As the mines came to view, a loud explosion occurred as a cry of help reached their ears;

"Help!"

"The mines!" exclaimed Haru as he ran towards the mines with Naruto following suit. Once they reached the mine, they saw an old man being squished by the crumbling dirt;

"Help me!" cried the elderly man

Both Naruto and Haru rushed in and tried to hold the rocks from falling as they pushed back;

"It's no use . . . we are not strong enough," grunted the blond

"Push harder!" grunted Haru back

But the mine began to crumble louder as they rocks continued to fall;

"Haru, there's only one way of getting out of this," the blonde told the earth-bender next to him

"I can't . . ." said Haru as he looked away

"If you don't do it, we are going to be buried as well!"

Haru thought about it and saw that there was no other option, and so, with determination, Haru left his post to get in front of the mine, and assumed his earth-bending stance. Naruto saw the fierce concentration of the young man as the miniature rocks stopped falling in mid air, and with a step forward, he made a twist movement shooting both fists forward in the end, pushing the earth back deep within the mine;

"Nice going kid," praised Naruto

Haru smiled softly as he walked towards the old man, and helped him get up by slinging an arm over his shoulder while Naruto did the same for the other arm.

- / I \ -

Unfortunately for them, the good deed would be paid in betrayal as the same old man that they help had ratted them out of Haru being an earth-bender as he led a group of fire-benders towards his house in the middle of the night;

Haru hearing someone knocking at the door, he goes to answer it, only to find a fire nation soldier waiting outside the house,

"That's him! That's the earth-bender!" confirmed the same old man whose life he had save back at the mines, and without hesitation, the soldiers took the shocked teen into custody

Morning had arrived, and Naruto had woken up, sitting on the hay he used as a bed for he still felt sleepy. Shaking it off, he stretched his limbs and put on his clothes on and walked out of the shed as he continued to stretch his arms, till he noticed Haru's mother standing there, looking down the road, giving him a bad feeling for the way she just stood there. When she heard the doors of the shed opening up, she turned towards Naruto with tears rolling down her cheeks, confirming his fears;

"What happened?" asked the blond as the lady approached him, only to receive a slap across the face

"They took him! They took him and it's all your fault?" she shouted at him, "If you hadn't arrived, he wouldn't have been taken away!

The mother collapsed to the ground, sobbing. Naruto just stood there, till he kneeled in front of her and placed his hand on her shoulder;

"When did they took him?" he asked her

"They came around midnight when they took him away," she murmured

"_Damn, they could have taken him anywhere by now_," thought the blond. Letting out a sigh, he placed both his hands on the mom's shoulder, causing her to look up at him;

"Rest easy, I'll get your son back," he assured her;

"How?" she asked

"I simply ask you to trust me, I will get your son back, I promise," he said before he got up and walked down the road, heading towards the village;

"_And I have the perfect way to find him,_" thought the blond as he had a certain person in mind to have a confrontation with

- \ I /-

Back at the village, the same tax collector that tried to take Naruto's sword away was walking around town with his soldiers terrorizing the villagers as he collected the money from them, just as he was doing it to an elderly woman;

"S-Sir, I gave you everything I had two days ago, the shop is all I got left," pleaded the old woman

"If you cannot pay the tax, then I'll just burn your shop to the ground," sneered the fire-bender as he threw her aside towards the ground while everyone just stood back and watched;

"Men . . . dispose of this dump," he ordered his men, and they began to sprout fire out of their hands, but were swallowed whole as the earth opened underneath them

"What!" shouted the man, "Who dares to interfere!"

"You sure like to learn the hard way don't you?"

The tax collector and the towns' people looked to where the voice came from, and the fire-bender suddenly had a fearful look in his eyes as he recognized the man as he stood in an unusual earth-bending stance;

"You . . ." muttered the man

Naruto stood in his praying mantis stance, and moved his balled fists forward twice before he opened them up and shot them forward once more, making the earth sent a fissure towards the fire-benders, sending them crashing towards the nearest stand as they groaned in pain one they landed;

"Hold! You're under arrest!"

Then suddenly the blonde was surrounded by five fire nation soldiers as they pointed their spears at him, "Surrender and no harm shall befall you."

"I give up," said the blond without a second thought as he lazily put his arms up in the air with a bored look in his face, making the soldiers and the towns people blink stupidly

"Uh . . . ok . . . arrest him and take him towards the ship," ordered the captain

While the soldiers tied his hands together and courted him with their spears still held at him towards the ship that resided at the port, they didn't notice the grin the blonde was holding;

"_Good, now all I have to do is wait,_" thought Naruto

-/ I \-

Once Naruto boarded the ship, he noticed that he wasn't alone, for other earth-benders were also arrested and like the people, they also held looks of hopelessness. Then, he felt the ship began to sail and walked towards the nearest window and saw that indeed, the ship had set coursed to who knows where;

"_One thing is certain, wherever I'm going, I'm bound to find the other earth-benders that the fire nation had taken prisoners,_" thought Naruto as he tried to get comfortable as much as possible.

After a few hours of sailing on the sea, the blond was rudely awakened by a soldier that shoved his spear on his gut;

"Get up, we have arrived," said the soldier as he grabbed Naruto by scruff of the neck of the rags that were given for prisoners and was shoved ahead, "Start walking."

The blond began to walked with the rest of the captured earth-benders out of the ship as they walked up deck, only for the blond to stop at the top of the stairs to check out the massive fortress made out of metal, but couldn't analyze it further as he was shoved once again by one of the soldiers for holding up the line;

"Quit gawking and keep walking," ordered the soldier, but Naruto complied with gritted teeth for the mean time, and walked down the plank and got in line with the rest of the benders as they awaited for the warden, who didn't fail to let his presence be known;

"Earth-benders, it is my pleasure to welcome you aboard my mother ship yard," a middle aged fire-bender walked their way with his hands behind his back, greeting them with a false smile on his face, "I am your warden, but I prefer to think of you not as my prisoners, but as my honored guests."

"_Honored guests my ass,_" scoffed the blonde in his mind

"And I hope you can come to think of me as your humbled and caring hosts," cynically said the warden as he walked in front of each of them, "You will succeed here if you simply obli . . . *Cough Cough* "

The sounds of coughing interrupted the warden, and he didn't seem to like that one bit as he turned around and blasted a small stream of fire at the feet of the earth-bender that stood next to Naruto, making him jumped back in fright;

"What kind of guest dishonors his host by interrupting him!" growled the warden as he glared at the sick earth-bender, "Take him below, one week in solitary confinement will improve his manners."

Naruto just watched helplessly as they took him away;

"Simply treat me with the courtesy I give you and we will get along famously," snidely said the warden as he talked directly in the blond's face, but Naruto simply glared at him from the corner of his eyes before he and the remaining earth-benders were instructed to walk towards the entrance of the rig, allowing them to get a full view as to what to expect in their surroundings;

"You will notice earth-benders that this rig is made entirely out of metal. You're miles away from any rock or earth, so, if you have any illusions of employing that brutarie savagery you pass down as bending among you people . . . it is impossible," exclaimed the warden as he look at each and one of them directly in the eye while they stood in front of the entrance, "Good day."

And so, the warden walked off, leaving the earth-benders to walk inside the prison.

Once Naruto was inside, the metal gate came down as he looked around and saw many people living in misery, trying to survive for the next day, with hopes of one day to get out of here. The more he saw as he walked around, the sicker and angry he felt, but fortunately, he was interrupted by someone he was seeking;

"Naruto?" asked a surprise Haru. Happy to seeing him well, the blond just lazily waved at the teen with a big grin on his face

"What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like? I came here to bail you out, since it is my fault you got stuck in this mess to begin with," explained the blond as he scratched his chin with his eyes eye smiling

"And you got yourself arrested?" deadpanned the teen

"Since I didn't know where you were taken, letting myself get captured was the only way of finding you," said Naruto proudly, causing Haru to laugh

"You got guts man, I'll give you that, but come, there's someone I want you to meet," said Haru as he led the blond towards a group of middle aged men sitting in a circle as they ate their food

"Naruto, this is my father, Tyroh. Dad, this is Naruto," presented to one another

"It's an honor to meet you sir," exclaimed Naruto, but got a bowl of food from Tyroh, "Here, have some dinner my boy," which Naruto gladly took, but grimaced once he saw what was inside the bowl;

"_This shit looks like someone just vomit in the bowl and passed it down,_" thought Naruto with his eyebrow twitching

"It's . . . not as bad as it looks," lied the man, but not wanting to be rude, Naruto sat down and took a spoonful of whatever they were serving and put it in his mouth, but just as he had placed it inside, Naruto made gagging gestures as he forced down the food down his throat, causing Tyroh to laugh;

"It's still pretty bad though," exclaimed Tyroh as he smiled kindly at the blond before another prisoner came to him, "Tyroh, the prisoners are complaining that there aren't enough blankets to go around."

"I'll talk to the guards but for the meantime, make sure the elderly are taken care of first, while the rest of us will simply have to hold on," assured the man

"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm curious, how do you plan to escape this place?" asked the blond to Tyroh with a serious look in his face

"Excuse me?"

"You know the plan to get the hell out of here along with everyone else. So what is it? Sabotage? Mutiny?"

"The plan . . . the plan is simply to survive. Wait out this war and hope that someday we will be able to return to our homes and forget about this ever happened" said the old man tiredly

"You're kidding, right?" asked Naruto, with surprise clearly shown on his face

"Naruto, I admire your courage and envy your youth, but there are people's lives at stake and the warden is a ruthless man that won't stand for any kind of rebellion," Tyroh explained to the blond, slowly closing his eyes, "I'm sorry, but we are powerless."

Annoyed, the blond simply got up and walked towards the air duct, standing on it as he whistled to get the attention of everyone in sight;

"Earth-benders, you will listen to me! Many of your villages had fallen to the fire nation, that is true, but those that cannot defend themselves still look up to you to lead and protect them, but what would they say if they were to see you now? Bunch of men and women who aren't worth for shit? No, no they will see free men and women, they will see freedom! And what the enemy will see, they will see the fury in your eyes, and they will hear the cries of your roars and the stomps of your marches, for they will know what we can do and with the Avatar on our side, there will be nothing that can stop us! By the sweat of our brow and the strength of our backs and the courage in our hearts! Earth-benders stand up and fight for that that you cherish the most!" encouraged Naruto but was severely disappointed as no one took a step forward or simply ignored him

- \ I / -

Watching from afar, the warden frowned upon the blond as he saw the motives behind his speech and instructed a few of his men to go down there and subdue him, believing that down the road, he would become a thorn on his side and decided to deal with it now before he managed to rile up some of the earth-benders

- / I \-

Deject fully, Naruto got off the air vent and sat there, running his hands through his hair in frustration by the cowardice of the people, but he wouldn't concede till he ignites the fire that had vanished from their hearts.

"I need to find a way for them to help themselves, but how? This entire place is made out of metal and there's no earth around here" pondered the blond, tracing the cold, metal ground with his hand until he looked up and saw the smoke coming out of the tower, realization coming to him, "If there's smoke, they must be burning coal, so in other words, I found myself a source of earth," smirked the blond till he heard footsteps coming and looked to the side to see a group of soldiers walking towards him with their weapons held tight in their hands, surrounding him completely once they reached him;

"How can I help you?" asked the blond as h pretended to be ignorant

"You're to come with us," ordered one of the soldiers, causing said blond to raise an eyebrow

"_Hmm, if they take me, I could use the element of surprise to sneak out of the prison and reach the coal without having to worry about being spotted,_" thought the blond. Then putting out much of a fight, he extended both his arms out and let the soldier cuff his hands to be taken at the bottom part of the rig, where solitary confinement resided.

Seeing his friend being taken away, Haru tried to go help him, but was detained by his father as he shook his head, making Haru to lower his head in sadness

- \ I / -

At the lower parts of the rig, the sounds of a door being unlocked were heard till it was shot opened, with the blond avatar being shoved inside by the soldiers as he landed face first with the cuffs still placed on his wrists;

"Welcome to your new chambers," snidely remarked the man and closed the door as he laughed, leaving him as the sound of footsteps walking away sounded through the corridor. Inside his cell, Naruto sat cross-legged as he took a look around his surroundings, noticing the only ventilation or view to the outside world was a small window with bars.

-\ . /-

Meanwhile with Aang and his friends, they kept going with their original plan of heading North to reach the Northern Tribe so Aang could learn water-bending, but at the same time, they couldn't help wonder how their blond friend was doing, for even though they had met for a brief period of time, he left a lasting impression on them, specially Katara, who kept practicing water-bending as how Naruto had instructed, and was coming along just fine, but wasn't enough to fight against any seasoned fire-bender. As they continued flying, the group spotted a large section the forest missing from the mountains. Sokka cursed the fire nation for the destruction of the forest while Katara tried to cheer up and upset Aang, who felt guilty for being in animated hibernation for over a century, by giving him a lecture about how nature always finds a way to grow back to life. Later on after meeting an old man from a nearby village, Aang finds himself in a small Earth Kingdom village that is being attacked by a monster from the Spirit World, him being the ridge between the two worlds, agreed to help them.

On that night, this monster (named Hei Bai) caused rampaged through the village and assaulted the avatar, and Sokka, not being able to stand there watching his friend fighting the spirit alone, goes out to help but ends being captured by the angry spirit. Aang chases Hei Bai in order to save sokka, Aang ends being knocked out as he accidentally ends up in the Spirit World. Not knowing what to do since one could see him, he pleads for Avatar Roku to give him a sign, and a sign appeared in the form of a dragon as it descended towards Aang, landing in front of him. Realizing that the dragon was Roku's familiar, he mounts him and flies off to the Avatar Temple in the Fire Nation as it flew into the chambers of where the statue of Avatar Roku resided. Within the chambers, the dragon shows him two visions, one of a comet and the second one of a shadowed figure that had strange markings on his body, glowing red along with his eyes, as if he were in the avatar state. After he saw those visions, Aang asks how he can talk to Roku. The dragon simply shows him that in three days time, the winter solstice will occur and the realm of the spirits and the living will unite, allowing him to talk to Roku. Knowing how to reach the previous, Aang tells the dragon to take him back to village to face the spirit. Once they arrive, Aang returns to the realm of the living and awakens in front of a wooden statue of a panda, realizing that spirit is the guardian of the forest; he realizes what he must do in how to calm the attacking beast.

As the sun began to set, a worried Katara waited at the entrance of the village, and rejoices when she notices Aang gliding towards her. As he lands Katara asks about her brother, but he shakes his head in failure but assures her that he knows to calm the angered spirit. As the sun had completely set, Hei Bai appeared once again, but Aang stood firm blocking his path, saying how he understands his anger about his home being destroyed and proceeds as he pulls out an acorn and tells the spirit the same logic that Katara told him. The spirit, understanding Aang's explanation, turns back into his original form of a panda, and heads back towards the forest, releasing every person he had taken, including Sokka who was hugged by her sister, restoring peace to the village.

Meanwhile, Iroh was on some hot springs that he had bumped into, taking a chance to relax, he gets captured by scouting earth-benders and is told by his capturers that he is going to be taken to Ba Sing Se to face justice, at the city that was said to have been laid on siege for 600 days by Iroh during his youth as a Fire Nation general, causing Zuko to stop his chase for the Avatar and to go save his uncle instead.

After helping the village find their peace from the angered spirit, Aang tries to sneak away in the night in order to prevent Sokka and Katara from coming with him to Fire Nation territory in order to reach the crescent moon island where the Avatar's temple resides but Appa refuses and is caught by the siblings as they voiced his selfishness in leaving them, but Aang still refused to listen as he explained he couldn't guarantee their safety and he had to know the meaning of the message from Avatar Roku on the Winter Solstice, but in the end, Aang gave in and allowed the two to come along.

However, during their travel towards the temple, Zuko was hot on their trail as he sought to bring down the Avatar as they headed to fire nation territory. Iroh tried to talk sense into his wayward nephew of the consequences it will lead to if he were to be captured, but Zuko retained firmed on his chase at the Avatar, but neither group expected a blockade led by General Zhao, who ordered to attack both the flying bison and Prince's ship. Aang maneuvered successfully through the fire rocks that were launched as he managed to pass into Fire Nation territory, causing both Sokka and Katara to grow nervous. Unfortunately for Zuko, his ship wasn't as lucky as it got hit, but was allowed to go through since Zhao believed the prince himself would be a guide as to where the Avatar is headed.

Once the group landed on the island, the group made their way towards the temple. Aang and the siblings cautiously trekked their way inside the temple, looking for the sages that were said to be the allies of the Avatar, but once the sages revealed themselves, they attack Aang as they try to prevent him from reaching Roku's chamber, but one of the Sages, Shyu, betrays his associates and declares himself loyal to the suspicious Avatar, but proves his loyalty as he helps them escape through a hidden passage. As they walk though the passage, Shyu explains what had happened through the last one hundred years, and how the sages were forced to aid the Fire Lord on his conquest, while Aang just lowers his head from the guilt he felt for abandoning the world.

Just as they had reached the room where the entrance for Roku's sanctuary resides, they found the doors to be locked, and unable to open since it would take a fully pledged Avatar to do so. Sokka came up with an idea to create fake 'fire bending' but that plan failed, but Katara noticed the scorched marks and told them of her plan and with Shyu's help, the three trick managed to trick the remaining Sages into opening the doors of the sanctuary that held Roku's statue. Zuko, however, spoiled their plot as he captures Aang and gives the sages enough time to recover and capture the intruders and traitor. Seeing what was happening, Aang wistfully outmaneuvers Zuko and runs towards the chamber as he jumped over the sages, successfully managing to enter as the doors closed with a ominous glow, illuminating them brightly as the doors were sealed shut as the prince and the sages found out when they tried to open the doors, believing that Avatar Roku didn't want any interference what so ever;

- / I \ -

Inside the chambers, Aang saw the light had half way illuminated as it hit Roku's statue directly, but nothing had occurred, and waited till he got impatient as he started to pace around franticly in front of the statue of the previous avatar;

"Why isn't nothing happening?" exclaimed a frustrated young Avatar as he placed his hands on his head, "I don't know what I'm doing. All I know is air-bending, please Avatar Roku, talk to me!"

And so, till the light had completely engulfed the statue, the statue's eyes began to shine, smoke began to sprout out of nowhere as it surrounded him whole till it finally dissipated, revealing Avatar Roku, standing with a small smile on his face with his sights on his predecessor;

"Good to see you Aang," greeted the aged man with a small humorous smirk, "What took you so long?"

Aang just simply bowed in respect

- \ I / -

Meanwhile, outside the chamber;

"Why did you help the Avatar?" demanded Zuko, grabbing a handful of Shyu's robe, but the sage wasn't intimidated at least one bit as he remained calm as he looked into the scarred prince's eyes;

"Because it was once the sages' duty and it is STILL our duty," then suddenly the sound of clapping was heard throughout the temple, as General Zhao had revealed himself in front of the group with a squad of fire-bending soldiers following him;

"What a moving and heartfelt performance. I'm certain the Fire Lord will understand when you explain to him as to why you have betrayed him," then he looked at the banished teen, "and Prince Zuko, it was a noble effort, but your little smokescreen didn't work," Zhao exclaimed arrogantly while a soldier apprehended Zuko, "two traitors in one day, the Fire Lord will be pleased."

"You're too late Zhao! The Avatar's inside and the doors are sealed," Zuko retorted as he struggled to get free

Scoffing, the general paid no heed as he looked at the door, "No matter, sooner or later he has to come out, and then he will pay for the trouble he caused me at the South Pole."

Hearing that the fire nation had invaded their village once more, Sokka growled in hate, "What did you do to our village!"

Zhao saw the water tribe siblings and walked towards them, standing in front of them arrogantly with a frown on his face;

"You peasants must be from the South Pole, but don't worry, your village is still intact, for the Avatar made sure of that as he eradicated the fleet I had sent to retrieve and capture him," he growled his explanation, causing the teens to become confused at the man's claim;

"Aang would never kill, even if it was the foulest of fire-benders," exclaimed Katara

"Either way little girl, he is still a threat to the Fire Nation, and as such he will be handled accordingly," said Zhao as he walked back towards the door

- / I \-

Back inside the chamber, Roku gained a serious look in his eyes as he addressed the young air-bender;

"Aang, I have something very important to tell you. That is why, when you were in the spirit world, I sent my dragon to come get you," explained the aged Avatar

"Is it about my visions? About the comet and the man with the glowing markings?" asked Aang, receiving an affirmative nod;

"What do they mean?"

"I'll explain in a bit about him, but first, you must listen for what I'm about to tell you," told Roku," One hundred years ago, Fire Lord Sozin used that comet to begin the war. He and his fire-bending army harnessed its incredible power and dealt a deadly first strike against the other nations."

"So the comet made them stronger?" asked a nervous Aang

Nodding his head, Roku continued his explanation, "To a level you could not even imagine."

"But that happened a hundred years ago," muttered the young air-bender, "What does the comet have to do with the war now?"

"Listen carefully, Sozin's comet will return by the end of this fall, and Fire Lord Ozai will use his incredible power to finish the war once and for all," warned Roku, "If he succeeds, even the Avatar won't be able to restore balance to the world. Aang, you must defeat the Fire Lord before the comet arrives."

Frustrated even more, Aang almost shouted at Roku, "But I haven't even started to learn water-bending, not to mention earth and fire."

"Mastering the elements takes years of practice and discipline," said the previous avatar with a stern look, causing Aang to flinch a bit, "But if the world is to survive, you must do it by summer's end."

"But what about this person of my visions, how does he fit in all of this?"

"Aang, the person from your vision is a man whose power overshadows all of the Avatars combined," revealed Roku, causing Aang's eyes to widen in shock

"He is an Avatar of ancient times that appeared out of the chaos of battles past, and brought a golden era of peace,"

"He was the first to ever bend the elements as well and through him, the art of bending was brought to life as he passed down his knowledge to his students,"

"His real name was forgotten by tides of time, but the title given to him was known throughout the ages, he is known as the Avatar of Four Dragons," finished Roku, shocking the young air-bender even further till he gained a sour look on his face

"Isn't he a myth? And if he's alive, why didn't he do something about the war!" demanded Aang, while Roku just stayed quiet

- \ I / -

Back outside, Zhao stood in the middle of the triangular formation, surrounding the entrance to prevent any form of escaping;

"When those doors open, I want everyone of you to unleash all of your fire power," ordered the general

"How is Aang going to make it out of this . . . " mused Katara to her brother, but received no response as she saw the serious pensive look in his eyes, "What's wrong?"

"I'm bothered, he says that the Avatar killed all those men back at the village, but Aang was with us the whole time," explained Sokka

"You can't possibly be saying that there could be two Avatars, are you?" asked an incredulous Katara

"I don't know, but I plan to find out once when we get out of here," then he looked at the squad of fire-benders, "that is if we managed to make it out of this."

- / I \ -

Back with Roku, Aang was still feeling unconfident about himself;

"Even if I meet him and ask him to teach me the elements, I don't think I'll be able to master the elements in time? What if I fail?" ranted the bald kid, but Roku just gave a warm, confident smile;

"He cannot train you for he has his own destiny to fulfill, but I have confidence in you, for I know you can do it Aang . . . for you have done once before," said Roku, causing Aang to smile, "The solstice is ending, is time we part our ways, for now."

"But I won't be able to return to the temple, what if I have questions, how will I talk to you?" exclaimed Aang

"I'm a part of you, when you need to talk to me, you will find a way," responded Roku, then he closed his eyes, sensing what awaited him on the other side; "A great danger awaits you at the temple. I can help you face the threat, but only if you're ready."

While he had his eyes closed, Aang's tattoos began to glow their blue hue, once he opened them up, his eyes too were glowing and spoke with a voice of many;

"I'm ready"

And the smoke once again bean to lift around them, engulfing both of them as Aang went back to the realm of the living, but not before Roku heed a final warning;

"Aang . . . beware of the man with the crimson eyes with black tomoes in them."

- \ I / -

Back outside the chamber, the doors began to glow once again as smoke passed through underneath the doors, captivating everyone's eyes as the doors began to open, and the glow intensified, however, Zhao wasn't affected as he stared into the glowing eyes of the Avatar with a thought in his mind;

"_This isn't the Avatar! _"thought Zhao, but either way, he was still going to eliminate the threat, "Ready!"

"NO! AANG!" shouted Katara as she and her brother tried to break away from the chains;

"FIRE!" shouted the general as he and his squad launched simultaneously fire blasts at the entrance, engulfing it completely as it created a large sphere of fire, but it parted in half as it revealed a manifestation of Avatar Roku waving one of his hands up and the other down, scaring and aweing everyone present;

"Avatar Roku . . . "muttered Shyu

And the avatar sucked the fire within his hands then extended them forward as it released a massive wave of fire, releasing Aang's friend and the prince himself, who made a run for it when the chains were melted by the heat. The Sages fled when they saw Avatar Roku turning towards them with a glare, and suddenly, brought his hand up and made a chopping movement, parting the ground with the extreme heat he radiated, and with the same hand, he made a cupping motion as he slightly brought his hand up, causing the lava to gush like a raging volcano;

"Avatar Roku is going to destroy the temple, we have to get out of here," said Shyu

Katara turned to him, "Not without Aang!"

Believing he did enough to bring the temple down, Roku took a deep breath and exhaled it while he brought his hands down. Inside the chamber, the light that illuminated the Avatar's statue had moved on pass the statue, causing the fog to be sucked in as it engulfed Roku, leaving behind a disoriented Aang as he fell to his knees only to be helped up by the siblings;

"Thanks"

But they couldn't stay any longer as the temple was crumbling down due to the lava rising, blocking any path down the tower. Aang hearing chattering coming from the outside, he looks up to see Momo guiding Appa towards them as he stopped midair next to the edge of the roof, allowing them to jump into the saddle and flew off into the distance into the setting sun, leaving a very pissed off Zhao, who didn't manage to catch either the Avatar or the banished prince.

- / . \ -

A week had passed by since he was thrown into the solitaire, and it was hell since it was too quiet, that is until the guards came and dropped his 'food' once a day. Although, while he was imprisoned, he used Kage Bunshin and Henged them into mice to scout the rig in order to find the fastest route to reach the coal while trying to find the path that was less watched. Feeling sore from sitting on the floor for so long, he got up and walked towards the window when he noticed that sun was close to settling down completely, dusk beginning to come. Suddenly, he turned towards the door as he heard chattering coming down the corridor and went to the door, trying to find out what they were talking about as he placed his hear on the door and had a clear hearing as to what they were saying;

"Did you hear?"

"About what?"

"General Zhao got promoted by the Fire Lord himself, he got promoted to Admiral"

"Really! Lucky man."

"Yes he is, and he already sent his first order as admiral, to use the yu-yan archers to capture the Avatar."

"Damn! That's extreme, not even the Avatar will be able to handle the archers! They are considered the best of the best in the Fire Nation."

"Yea he won't . . . ." said the soldier as they turned around the corner, not knowing they had just warned a certain prisoner of the Avatar's trap

"_Shit! Aang's going to be in trouble, I have to get out of here,_" thought Naruto as he backed away from the door and took a deep breath, raised his hands in the air and waved them in a circle while they were still in the air, and a drop of water began to form in the air as he mixed the elements in the atmosphere to make water till he had water sphere in the size of a giant bowl. He then placed his cuffed hands into the sphere and concentrated to turn the water into ice, freezing them so he could break the cuffs with ease. Rubbing the soreness of his wrists he gained from the cuffs, Naruto then turned towards the door and launched his massive flames towards while he waved his hand once more to create another water sphere as the metal door turned cherry red from the extreme heat. Once it was heated enough, the blond threw the water balloon at the door and a loud hiss was heard as the door cracked all over as it cooled off, and Naruto threw a hard punch, breaking the door to pieces as they crumbled to the floor.

Peeking his head out of his prison, Naruto looked both sides before he dashed out of his cell and made way towards the furnace where the coal was located.

- \ I / -

Nightfall had fallen, and the warden was no happy of the news his guards had brought him;

"Escape? What do you mean he has escaped!" growled the warden at his guards, "You better have a good explanation as to how he escaped captain."

"We don't know for certain sir," mumbled the captain his explanation, "when we got there, the door for his cell was destroyed, as if shattered to pieces."

Not satisfied with the answer the warden without warning just grabbed the captain by the scruff of his outfit and threw him off the rig into the water, causing a loud splash to be heard. Turning towards the other soldier with an icy glare, he gave out his command;

"I want him captured alive . . . . . so I can teach him some manners myself."

The soldier simply saluted his higher in command and marched off to gather more people for the search for the blond all over the primacies.

Morning had risen, and the guards spent all night looking for the blond, but had no such luck for he could not be found anywhere, but they were persistent on the search for him. Tyroh and Haru, along with the rest of the captured earth-benders looked around in confusion as to what was going on, since the guards came into their camps and ordered them to step outside, believing that they were hiding him, but nothing. The earth-benders had gathered near one of the air ducts that connected to the furnace, getting out of the way of the soldiers, till suddenly, Haru and some of the earth-bender nearby began to feel currents of air coming out of the ventilation, slowly backing away, they noticed that some black debris was coming out till it exploded, large amounts of coal were being chunked out of the vent, causing many to get confused, till Naruto himself jumped out of the vent, landing on top of the coal, coughing and patting his clothes to get rid of the stains made by the coal.

"There he is! Surround him!"

Naruto looked up to see that he was surrounded from all angles, with the warden walking towards him with his own little squad of fire benders;

"You truly are pushing your luck boy, you're one mistake away from me ordering your death warrant," growled/warned the warden

"Naruto! Stop this foolishness!" shouted Tyroh, hoping to save the blonde from the warden's wrath, but was surprised when Naruto looked back at him with a grin on his face;

"Earth-benders! This is your chance to stand up and grab a hold of your fate! This is your chance to stand up and fight for what you believe in! This is your chance to fight for freedom!" shouted Naruto with enthusiasm as he pointed to the coal with his spread arms, but once again, the earth-benders turned a blind eye at the blond, causing the warden to laugh coldly at Naruto's attempts of igniting their courage;

"Foolish boy, do you really believed that a few chunks of coal and encouragement speeches would ignite these people?" sneered the warden as he watched Naruto lower his arms to his side with his head lowering down, "Take a good look at these people, their spirits were broken a long time ago, you failed," finalized the warden before he turned around and slowly

"Udon . . ." whispered Naruto as his mind flashed the face of his student;

- ( Flashback ) –

_A younger Udon was seen on the training field, training despite having bandages wrapped around his head as they covered his eyes, trying to use his chakra to 'see' as he expanded it around the field, but was failing miserably as he dropped to his knees in exhaustion. Angry, he punched the ground hard enough to make a spider web on the ground as he cried for his cursed disability._

"_If you keep pushing yourself like that, you're bound to end up in the hospital again."_

"_Who's there!" shouted the teen, as he reached for a kunai, but was just aimlessly pointed the weapon, afraid of who the stranger was, but a hand gently found itself on his shoulder;_

"_Relax Udon, it's me, Naruto, I heard what happened, and I would like to help regain your sight," said the blond avatar, but his hand was swatted away when Udon jumped away from him_

"_How can I regain my sight when that bastard Uchiha damaged my eyes beyond repair! Even Tsunade-sama said so herself?" shouted Udon with tears falling freely underneath the bandages, but Naruto just kept quiet as he let the teen cry out all of his anger and despair, but he wasn't giving up on him;_

"_Listen carefully to what I'm about to explain. You've already heard I have taken both your teammates along with Inari as students in order to teach them each one of the four styles I have created, correct?" and got a nod in return, "Well, I want you to be the fourth student to gain the knowledge of earth-bending," said Naruto, shocking the blind teen as he didn't expect this from him, but still had his doubts;_

"_But why me? I can no longer see, I can no longer be a shinobi, I'm useless!" exclaimed Udon, as he tore off his bandages, revealing two unfocused, milky eyes at him, but Naruto simply placed his hands on both his shoulders;_

"_Udon, what I'm offering you is a chance is not just for you to learn earth-bending, but also a way to gain your sight back, for through earth-bending, you will be able to see by feeling the vibrations from the ground to a degree that it's going to make a veteran sensory type nin look like a novice," clarified the blond, allowing what he said to sink in as Udon just threw his arms around Naruto, crying as he thanked him, and all the blond could do was pat him on the back;_

"_Alright now, dry them tears and let's get you started on your training, alright?" said Naruto as he stood up and watched Udon wipe his tears away and 'looked' at Naruto with a big smile on his face;_

"_I promise you, Naruto-sensei, I will train hard to make you proud . . . . "_

- ( End of Flashback ) –

"_For when we're gone, your teachings won't fade away, for I will make sure every future earth-bender under me become recognized for their strong will . . . . ."_

"Was this it . . . "muttered the blond a little louder, causing the attention of those who managed to hear it, the warden being one of them;

"Was this the vision of the mighty earth-benders that my student visualized long ago!" shouted the blond in rage, shocking some of them as he continued, "You dare call yourself earth-benders when you cower and spit on the teachings I taught the earth sage many centuries ago!"

"I have had enough of you, soldiers kill him!" ordered the warden as he shot large flames from his fits, heading straight at the blond;

"NARUTO! LOOK OUT!" warned Haru, but all the blond did was lazily raise his hand up and put out the flames with the back of his hand, shocking the warden and everyone else;

"W-Who the hell are you!" demanded the warden, but almost piss himself when he saw the eyes of the blond when he turned to look at him.

Eyes . . . red as blood looking at him directly as he now had taken notice of the extra features his prisoner had gained.

Tyroh saw the strange tattoos that had appeared out of nowhere with a crimson glow on the blonde's body and easily recognized as to who Naruto truly was;

"So the stories are true . . . ." whispered the man with Haru turning at him as he had heard what his that had said;

"Dad, what stories? What are you talking about?"

"When I was young lad, my father used to tell me a story of an Avatar that radiated a crimson glow whenever he used his true power. At first, I thought it was just a myth, but seeing him standing there with those glowing marking, I know now that the legend itself is real," replied Tyroh with seriousness plastered on his face, causing Haru to grow even more confused;

"Dad, who is he?"

"Haru, he is the one responsible for bringing water, earth, fire and air-bending to the world, he's the Crimson Avatar."

Having heard what the prisoner had said, the warden stared in disbelief at the blond, not believing what he just had heard;

"Him! The famed Crimson Avatar? That legend is nothing but a farce and I'll prove it by killing this imposter!" shouted the warden as he stepped forward and bend his body to the side, shooting both fists out as he launched a massive torrent of fire at the blond, but this time Naruto jumped off the coal and landed on the steeled floor as he waved his arms around in a giant circle while twisting his body and made water appear out of nowhere, making it circle him as he extended one hand forward and one backward, both with opened palms as he glared at the captain;

"Everyone, fire at will!" shouted the warden as he launched another assault, but this time other fire-benders joined in

Naruto simply twisted his whole body backward as he took a step back and made the water sphere around him disappear and jumped in the air with a spinning kick, launching a giant firewall towards the warden's squad, destroying the embers that were coming at him, but noticing the risks they were in, everyone jumped out of the way as the firewall hit the steeled wall and left a massive scorched mark with some of it still burning red;

Haru noticed that some of the soldiers with spears tried to sneak attack Naruto from behind, but he bended the coal to shoot out at them, knocking them out. One fire-bender saw what happened and sent Haru a flame shot, not having enough time to make a wall to protect himself, he lifted his arms to block it, but then a wall out of wall rose up and protected Haru as the fire hit the wall. Looking back, he saw his dad had taken action as he stood in his earth form with both arms slightly raised up

"Show them no mercy!" shouted the warden as he once shot fire shots towards the earth-benders, but more earth-benders joined Tyroh into fighting back as they made wall and blocked the fire as they maintained the wall;

"For the Earth Kingdom!" shouted Tyroh with a push of the hands towards the ground, sending they dispersed the wall and sent the coal flying straight at the fire-benders while the rest of the earth-benders' courage ignited and fought back with ferocity

Meanwhile Naruto was fighting off a horde of fire-benders that come into the battle field, blocking or waving away the fire shots, but they kept coming, so the blond made water appear and turned it into a ring around him, blocking any other fire shots that were thrown at him. Then he got into his octopus stance and made the water grow tentacles like an octopus, and shot his hands forward and waved them to the side, making the tentacles strike and swatting them some of the fire-benders away hard as they landed against the wall, and some didn't seem to get up for they were either out cold or severely in pain;

"Naruto!"

Hearing his name being called, the blonde Avatar saw that the earth-benders were huddled up, surrendered as now soldiers held their spears at them, while fire-benders were able to out-match the weakened earth-benders. Jumping into the air, Naruto landed in front of the earth-benders by slamming his fists onto the steel, making a gust of wind to blow them away, slowly rising to his feet;

"Glad you finally found your courage," remarked the blonde

"You reminded us of what a true earth-bender should be," remarked Tyroh back as he stood side to side with the blond, "They have us surrounded."

Naruto simply smirked while he bore his crimson eyes at the fire-army that had gotten up and resumed to cornering them, with the warden leading the pack;

"Give up now, and I assure you, your punishment won't be as severe," sneered the warden with a glare

"Tyroh . . ." called out Naruto, "You want to see the full extension of earth-bending?"

Tyroh simply looked at the blond, skeptical at his claim, but the smirk he held on his face didn't seem to falter;

"What do you mean?" asked the old man

At this question, Naruto's smirk grew even bigger, "Just watch"

And so, the blonde reached down towards the floor and dug his fingers into the metal and with a mighty pull, Naruto tore the metal of the floor and made a whip like movement, causing every fire soldier to be thrown off. Tyroh and the rest of the earth-benders could not believe what they were seeing; (A/N)

"He's bending the metal," muttered Haru in surprise as he saw the blonde once again whip the metal against the metal gates, completely breaking them off their confines, giving the earth-benders a chance to escape;

"Go! Get out of here while I hold them off!" shouted the crimson avatar before he twisted his body and sent chunk of metal flying towards the fire-benders, blocking the shots of fire they had sent to impede their escape;

"Don't let them escape!" shouted the warden

Naruto seeing the warden was being resilient, he bended the coal in front him with his fists in front of him, then shot them forward with his fingers pointing forward, making the coal shoot at the warden and his squad, hitting them on as they were unable to deflect some of the rocks that managed to passed through their defensives and went down groaning in pain. The warden noticed the coal he was laying on top began to move, dragging him airborne along with the rest of the fire-benders as they floated away from the rig atop of the water, and turned towards the rig, noticing the earth-benders were holding him up while Naruto just looked at him;

"Please . . . . I cannot swim . . ." pleaded the warden

"Don't worry, I hear cowards can swim," replied Tyroh as he was just about to let them drop, but was stopped by the Avatar when he held his hand outward, his markings disappearing with his features going back to normal;

"I'll make you a deal; I'll let you go if you tell me where the yu-yan archers are located," said the blonde, shocking Tyroh and some of the earth-benders that stayed behind;

"You're not serious, are you Naruto?" asked Haru, but was ignored

"I'll tell, I'll tell. The base of the yu yan archers is located up north, crossing the river close to the mountains," said the warden without a beat.

Naruto turned towards Tyroh, "Alright, let him go."

"Bu-But you said you were going to let me go," squeaked out the warden

Naruto just gave him a cheeky grin, "I did keep my promise, but you failed to set the terms as to where I was to put you down."

Smirking, the elder earth-bender placed his opened hands down in front of him as he stood tall, allowing the coal to drop freely along with the warden as a loud splash was heard. After they had gained their freedom, Naruto, Tyroh and Haru stood at the port of the ship, with every earth-bender that was captured at deck;

"Naruto, we are eternally grateful for what you have done for us," said Haru's father with a small bow

Scratching the back of his head embarrassedly, he said modestly;

"I didn't do much, all I did was supply the coal for you guys to fight back."

"You did more than that Naruto. With our freedom, you brought broken families together, and most important of all, you helped us regain back what we lost," countered Tyroh, "we promise, to never again disgrace the teachings that you brought us, Avatar Naruto."

Then he, along with everyone else, dropped to their knees and bowed their heads to the floor in sign of respect towards Naruto, who just stood there, not knowing what to say, for he didn't had this such level of respect in the past when he was still living in Konoha, despite all the accomplishments he had achieved. Kneeling to one knee at Tyroh, he placed his hand on his shoulder, causing the man to look up into the eyes of the Avatar, before he rose his head up and looked at each person that bowed before him;

"Earth-benders . . . Rise, don't bow before me for I'm no different, I'm human like the rest of you, I'm your equal just as all of you are my equal," spoke Naruto loudly for everyone to hear him, but Tyroh just kept staring at him, hearing the sincerity of his words;

"_He truly is just as the tales say,_" thought the man before he was lifted to his feet by said person

"Go to your wife old man, she's waiting for you and your son's return," said Naruto

"You should come with us Naruto," suggested Haru, but the blond slowly shook his head

"You guys have your mission, to liberate every village that was confiscated by the Fire Nation, and mine is to help the current Avatar to bring back balance to the world," replied Naruto before he jumped over the wall and looked back once more, "Till we cross paths again, stay safe and never let the fire within you die out," naruto said lastly before he jumped off into the water, landing on top of it as he used his chakra to keep himself afloat and began to use his wind affinity to boost up his speed to run north, with his next destination in mind, leaving behind the people he had helped regain their courage to go back to their families and protect that what is precious to them.

Tyroh then turned towards the other earth-benders and shouted on top of his lungs;

"Lets go back to our homes and make the Fire Nation rue the day they ever stepped foot in our kingdom!"

And a loud roar of approval was heard throughout the rig

- / . \ -

During the week that Naruto had spent time in solitary confinement, a couple of things had happened to the group after their trip at the fire temple.

First, they had a run in with a band of guerrilla fighters that was led by a young, wayward teen named Jet while he was rescuing them after they had walked in a small camp occupied by Fire Nation soldiers, thanks to Sokka as he suggested to walk due to his instincts. Both Aang and Katara were amazed by the skill that Jet showed as he battled the Fire-benders, while Sokka simply scoffed, reminding them when their asses were saved by a certain blond, but Katara countered by saying there is no comparison between pirates and fire nation soldiers, but Sokka simply agreed with her before he shut her up by reminding her that Naruto didn't had help to fight them off while Jet had his guerrilla to help him. While the siblings were arguing with each other, Jet makes the soldiers run defeat and invites the team back to the Freedom Fighters' hideout. At the hideout, they learned that every Freedom Fighter was a victim of every Fire Nation raid and Jet started the group in order to fend off every Fire Nation soldier that came across them. Later on, Jet invites them inside his head-quarters, where the group plots out its attacks against the nearest village, but while the plan was being discussed, Sokka has his suspicions about Jet. Noticing this, Jet tempts Sokka by inviting him to partake in their missions.

However, his plan fails as they jumped a defenseless old man, making Sokka more skeptical of Jet's motives. Once the group came back to the hide out, Jet talks to Aang and Katara privately and asks them for their help, telling them that with their water-bending, the plan could go without a hitch, making Aang and Katara decide to help Jet "save" a nearby Earth Kingdom town, without knowing that Jet's real intent is to drown the village, willing to sacrifice the lives of innocent civilians to destroy the Fire Nation garrison there.

Meanwhile, Sokka was left behind to be watched, believing that he would try to sabotage them, but finds out what Jet's real plan was and manages to escape his watchers, heading towards the village to warn them about the oncoming danger, but the villagers don't believe him, but the same old man that Sokka had saved him from Jet's grudge, helps him convince the villagers and manages to evacuate the city, Earth and Fire alike, in time to avoid the flooding of the village.

Then, the gang stumbles into is the Great Divide, the world's largest canyon, where once again, the siblings start their bickering, giving Aang the chance to put his Avatar skills to the test, to which he successfully solves their minor disputes, but the young Avatar bites more than he could chew as he tried to put his skills to practical use, on a larger scale when two Earth Kingdom tribes, who have been in a feud for 100 years, need to cross the canyon together. Getting aggravated, Aang explodes by saying they were going to travel together while Appa flies across the canyon with most needy people of the two tribes, and, with the help of a knowledgeable earth-bender, guides the rest across the vast, dry landscape as they try to survive the creatures that resided on the canyon. In the end, Aang is able to end the feud, and the two tribes travel together to the capital city of Ba Sing Se.

After that adventure, the group was in need of money, so Sokka decides to get a job due to the two's complaining and finds one where he helps out a fisherman who is willing to pay him to help him on his next fishing trip, even though he and the fisherman ignore the warnings of a storm brewing in the horizon. Then the fisherman recognizes Aang as the Avatar by the markings on his head and dubs him as the Avatar "who turned his back on the world." Aang, remembering his dream, runs away in guilt. Katara goes after him and manages to track him down inside a cave where he sat, sulking in front of a fire, where Aang reveals to Katara that the monks at the Southern Air Temple told him he was the Avatar and wanted to send him away to the Eastern Air Temple to separate him from Monk Gyatso, believing he was being too soft on Aang as he was the only person who cared about Aang as a person instead of as the Avatar, thus leading Aang to run away from home into a storm and (eventually) seal himself in the iceberg.

Meanwhile on Zuko's ship, Zuko's own crew begin to question his leadership when he dismisses the safety of his own crew when they were told of the oncoming storm, until Iroh enlightens them on how the prince was scarred in a duel against the Fire Lord in an Agni Khai by his refusal to fight back, which led to his banished from the Fire Nation, by his own father.

And lastly, Sokka suffers from an illness due to his exposure to the elements during the storm. Katara becomes his caretaker but also begins to contract the illness as well; Aang informs her of a nearby herbalist institute and goes there in hopes of finding a cure for his friends. The herbalists tells him to get frozen frogs in order to suck on them, and goes in search for the frogs, but on his way to collect them, Aang has encounter with a group of Fire Nation Yu Yan archers, with orders appointed by the newly promoted Admiral Zhao to capture him, but Aang puts up a fight while they chase him, but gets captured in the end and taken to their base.

Unknown to them, a certain masked figure had infiltrated the base and helped the Avatar escape his confines, but Admiral Zhao found out quick, setting off the alarms of an escape. The masked figure and Aang joined forces to fight in order to escape, but they were too many and soon they found themselves surrounded, thankfully, a certain blond decided to join in the fray;

- \ . / -

Aang and his masked savior had managed to escape the first wall but before Aang had a chance to use the second ladder as a spring board to catapult themselves over the second wall, a fire-bender had ignited the ladder and burned it to the ground, leaving the masked figure to barely a grip at the edge of the wall, but he wasn't successful at hanging on and both of them fell down to the ground, quickly getting surrounded by a small squad of fire-benders who rapidly shot their flames at them, Aang jumped in front and created whirlwind-like shield to protect them from the fire, till their higher up arrived;

"Stop! The Avatar must be captured alive!" shouted Zhao as walked with the general of the base, soon regretting his words for the masked figure brought his swords up to Aang's neck, the threat clearly being made, as both, Admiral Zhao and the masked fighter stared off at one another.

However, their staring contest was put to a halt when there was commotion coming from the first gate. The sound of metal being sliced and crumbling down was heard followed by the sound of soldiers grunting and shouting as they fought, along with the sound of fire being used by the fire-benders, but what was followed after that wasn't really expected. The sound of a sword slicing through the air was heard by a barely audible hiss before the cries of pain and bones breaking echoed throughout the walls, scaring some of the soldiers that had surrounded the Avatar and the masked rebel. The cries continued to wail along with the sound of bones breaking, till it finally everything had died, leaving an eerie silence, causing everyone on the other side of the doors to prepare in case the intruder decided to bust through the door.

Then, a thin line was seen cutting through the steel diagonally with another one cutting through the opposite side, forming an X patter till someone had smashed through the gate, making a dust cloud rise as the pieces of metal were sent flying at the soldiers, making the Admiral and everyone else scatter in hopes of not being flatten.

The masked figure dropped one sword from Aang's neck in order to block the coming sword strike that came through the dust clouds

*CLANG*

When the dust cleared, the masked rebel and along everyone else saw a tall man with an black outfit that seemed to be native to the Earth Kingdom, wearing what seemed to a black straw hat that covered half of his upper face, since none could see the features of his face except the lower jaw.

The person barely lifted his head up, giving the blue spirit a glimpse of his eyes, revealing cold blue eyes glaring at him with controlled anger;

"Let him go . . . now," growled the blond but the masked swordsman had let go of Aang and barely managed to push off the blond as he tried a swipe at him with his left sword so he could follow up with his right, however, Naruto got a hold of onto his left arm and blocked the second sword strike by placing his reversed blade behind him and without missing a beat, Naruto rammed his shoulder into the Blue Spirit's midsection, making him stumble back a bit but allowing Naruto to gain enough time to turn the blade around and bringing it down with the intent of cutting his head off;

"NARUTO! STOP!" shouted Aang when he saw what the blond was about to do and the sword came to a stop just a few inches away from the mask. The blond simply looked at the Avatar, waiting for an explanation;

"He helped me escape. Please, don't kill him," pleaded Aang, using Naruto to recede back his sword looking at the masked rebel;

"He sure has a funny way of helping you escape," commented the blonde with a glare towards the masked swordsman

"You're all completely surrounded, I suggest for you all to surrender peacefully, and your punishment won't be . . . . as severe," boasted Admiral Zhao with a sneer as he neared at them, with his little army hoisting either their spears or their fists back, ready to strike

"You sure always manage to get yourself in tight situations don't you Aang," commented Naruto dryly while Aang just laughed nervously as he scratched his head and the Blue Spirit got quickly got to his feet with his broad swords up, ready to fight

Naruto then turned towards the admiral with an expressionless face;

"If you value the lives of your soldiers, I suggest that you stand aside and let us pass," suggested the blonde as he gripped his sword tightly by the handle and placed it beside his waist

"I think you don't understand the situation you're in, you are in no position to make any demands what so ever," arrogantly remarked the admiral, making Naruto to narrow his eyes dangerously as he flipped the sword once again, ready to strike with the blade

"Aang . . . ." whispered the blonde, trying to get the Avatar's attention, "I want you and the masked guy to make a run for it; I'll hold them off while you two make your escape."

"But Naruto, you can't handle them all at once, they are not pirates," said Aang, not liking the fact him having to leave his friend behind once again, but Naruto simply turned towards him with a grin;

"Don't worry about me, i'm too stubborn to be killed" commented the blond, "Now hurry, we can't afford them to capture you again. I'll meet you and the rest at the North Pole, now GO!"

Then Naruto rushed at the fire nation soldiers without a sound, leaving Aang and the masked swordsman behind as they too began to ran towards the exit that the blond had made, but before they crossed the gates, Aang stopped to looked back at Naruto's retreating form as he went and charged, and with sadness in his heart, he turned and ran as fast as he could through the gates;

"Don't let them escape!" shouted Zhao and the army mobilized after them, however, they were stopped by a certain blond avatar

Naruto went up to the first soldier and drew his sword, slashing the man from the waist up across the chest towards his shoulder, causing blood to shoot out everywhere, but he didn't stop there for side stepped to the right to dodge a spear thrust and brought his the blade down once the man was within range, killing him by almost beheading him and twisted his body to thrust his blade forward towards a nearby fire-bender that was ready to strike him with a flame kick, stabbing him through the chest and kicked him hard to send him crashing towards the rest of the fire-benders as the fell to the ground. Turning towards his left, the blond slashed through the wooden stick as a soldier tried to block the coming strike, but it was futile as it found its mark on his collar bone, digging deeply into his flesh, then brought his sword down and used its momentum to make a spin and slashed another soldier across the abdomen as the soldier gurgled as he fell to the floor, but then he was grabbed by the neck of his armor as Naruto threw him towards barrage of fire blasts made by fire-benders, causing a mild explosion on impact.

Then, without turning around, the blond stabbed his sword back, embedding it into someone's gut. Elbowing the impaled person hard in the face, he managed to get his blade free as he brought it up in the air and made a downward slash, cutting another soldier in the middle while he stood motionless till he fell to the ground lifeless. Hearing a whistling sound, the blond did a double back flip jump towards the exit he made, dodging the arrows that were aimed at him. Looking up, he saw one of the archers with a leather strap belt coming down on him with his arrow ready to fire, but then he noticed what kind of weapon the archer had on his belt,

"_Kunais!_" thought Naruto

The archer shot his arrow but Naruto could see it coming, but knew it was a distraction for he could hear several arrows coming straight at him so he jumped airborne straight at the archer, who tried to use his bow as a weapon but Naruto blocked it with his bare hand as he held on to it and with the butt of his blade, broke the skull when it came into contact with the head, making the archer land with a loud thud on the ground while Naruto held the belt with the kunais and placed over his head onto his shoulder, making go across his chest.

Looking up ahead, he saw that every fire nation soldier was charging at him and even he knew that he could not take on such numbers, so he made a run for it towards the first gate, making them follow him, until he heard the sound of an arrow soaring through as it whistled in the air and looked up ahead in horror as he saw what the target for the arrow was;

"AANG! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" shouted Naruto on top of his lungs

- / I \ -

Moments before the arrow was shot, Admiral Zhao saw how one single person killed without difficulty a small platoon of fire-benders and soldiers alike, but his real concern wasn't him, no, his main concern was the prisoner that had escape from his cell, watching from his tower as the Avatar continued to flee from the base. Without turning to his left, he spoke with a cold voice;

"Do you have a clear vision?" asked the Admiral to a yu yan archer that stood next to him with his arrow ready to fire

"Kill him, he is too much of a wild card to be left alive," ordered Zhao without taking his eyes off of the Avatar, narrowing his eyes further, he continued "and be ready to apprehend the two intruders, they will suffer a fate far worse."

And following his orders, the archer let go of the arrow, letting it soar through the air towards its target

- \ I / -

"AANG! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Hearing his name being shout, Aang turned around only to see a shiny object descending quickly towards him, only to stay rooted on the spot from fear when he saw that it was an arrow coming straight at him, but miraculously, the young air-bender gasped when the Blue Spirit got in the way of the arrow and took the hit as it nailed him in the head, sending crashing back on the ground with his mask lightly tilted off his face.

Noting that he wasn't getting up, Aang used his air-bending to make a dust cloud to cover their escape, but curiosity got the better of him as he went and reached for the mask, only to gasp in shock as he scooted back when he saw Zuko's face. Quickly he got up and readied to flee, but his conscience stopped him as he couldn't not be cruel to leave him, and so, hoisting one of the prince's arms over his shoulder, Aang sprinted off into the distance.

- / I \ -

Naruto let out a sigh of relief when he watched as the masked swordsmen intercepted the arrow and took the hit for Aang, then later for said person to create a cover for them to flee. Sensing they were no longer around in the area, the blonde turned towards to the charging soldiers and slowly sheathed his sword, placing it under the sash so he could reach for two of the kunais he had taken from the archer and reared his arms back so he could throw them hard enough for them to gain enough speed. Placing one of his hands with a hand sign, he called out his technique;

"Tajuu Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

And the two kunais that were thrown off had become over two-thousand kunais, and the soldiers watched in horror as the projectiles came until they hit their mark. Screams of horror were heard through the base as Zhao just watched while gripping hard on the rail as his soldiers were slaughtered by this . . . . . demon, only to gasp in shock when the blonde took off his hat and revealed his golden hair, flowing freely with the breeze, looking straight at him with blue piercing eyes and lines on each side of his cheeks.

"_It's him . . ._" thought Zhao with slight fear as he recognized the man from the reports from the South Pole, only to watch Naruto disappear via shunshin

- \ I / -

Deep in the forest, far away from the fortress, Zuko was resting in a bed made out of leaves while Aang watched over him in case some fire-nation soldiers decided to follow him or hoping that his blonde friend would show up, but was snapped back out of his dilemma when he heard Zuko stir.

Aang told him how it sucked to wake up a hundred years later only to find that most of his friends he used to visit were gone, specially one from the fire-nation. Turning towards the banished prince with a small smile, he offers him his friendship, but all he got in return was a blast of fire from the prince. Zuko watched the Avatar flee as he used the trees to escape.

- / I \ -

After Aang had left Zuko back on the forest, he returned back to the swamp to get more of those frozen frogs to heal his friends. Once he felt he had gathered enough, he headed back to where they were. Arriving tiredly, the young air-bender simply slipped the frozen frogs into their mouths, claiming that it would cure if they just simply sucked on them, then slowly he waltz towards Appa's tail, where he dropped like a sack of potatoes and rested.

While Sokka continued to suck on the frog, he turned towards Aang;

"You made any new friends Aang?"

"No . . . I didn't . . . "murmured the young Avatar

"What took you so long Aang? I was getting worried when you didn't came back after the storm," said Katara from her sleeping back

"It's a long story, but I met up with Naruto," replied Aang, causing Katara to sit up from her bag, despite her body protesting at such action;

"Really? Where is he?" she asked him before she went into a coughing fit

"I'll tell you guys later, but he told me that he is going to meet us at the North Pole," muttered Aang as he turned over, and drifted off to sleep, leaving Sokka and Katara to continue sucking, that is until the frogs began to unfreeze and move inside their mouths, causing them to spit them out and gag while Momo just chased them around

Once she stopped coughing, Katara looked out the monuments towards the mountains and a visage of Naruto came to view;

"_Please, be careful Naruto,_" thought the young water-bender

- \ I / -

Meanwhile, said person was walking down the mountains after he successfully escaped from the fortress after Aang had fled. Contemplating where his next destination should be as he looked at the map, however, he didn't considered to count on the side of the mountain exploding as a creature burst out from the mountain, roaring while Naruto jumped to avoid the falling rocks, to looked at the creature that stood in front of him with awe;

"What a magnificent creature," muttered the blond while he still admired such beast. The creature looked at him growling, as if challenging him to a fight, and Naruto not being one to back down, he got into his battoujutsu stance while grinning;

"Bring it on!" exclaimed the blond as he charged . . . . . . .

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. . . . . And cut!

A/N: I know it's a little early for metal bending to come into play, but he is known as the one to have fully mastered all of the elements, so why not include metal since it does contain particles of earth.

Another chapter is done and the we are getting close to the end of book one, I'll try my best to finish the next chapter as soon as possible, but with finals being next week, I won't be able to write as much, so be patient till I post the next chapter.

As for what the creature is, I'll reveal it on the next chapter, and sue me if you I'm obsessed with the mythical creature, not my fault they look awesome and being born on that year of Chinese calendar.


	8. Book I Chapter 6

Wow . . . I must say, I'm impressed as to how many people voted, and as for the results after reading each review carefully, the winner is . . . . . Katara leaving with Naruto! But before we go into the story, there are a couple of things I want to clarify;

Naruto and Katara will have bonding time as they will get to learn a bit about one another, but they will NOT hookup right away, although they will have a close friendship due to the fact they both lost loved ones (In Naruto's case, denied having a family due to his battle with Sasuke). The couple will be official at some part during the second arc of the series, that's much as I'm going to say about this topic.

Second, many have been asking me 'when am I going to have Naruto reveal himself as the true Avatar'. I plan to have him reveal himself slow in minor cases like I did on the previous chapter on the "Imprisoned" arc, but just to let everyone know, the gaang will know who he really is once they reach the library, as I have portrayed it on the trailer.

And third, I really appreciate to the reviewer that commented about teasers, I haven't put much thought about till it was mention about spoiling the story, and so from now on, I will no longer post anymore teasers, although it was fun to read the reactions of those that read the teasers. The only reason I did it was to give you guys a small taste of what was coming and to let you all readers know that I haven't abandoned the story, but enough of that. On with the story!

Avatar timeline:

Episode "The Fortuneteller" will be same as cannon with slight modifications

Episode "Bato of the Water Tribe" will be same as cannon

Episode "The Deserter" will be same as cannon with some modifications

Episode "The Northern Air Temple" will be the same at the beginning, but modified close to the end

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Avatar: Last Air-bender

_**(A/N): I'll post an author note at the end of the chapter whenever I post this during the chapter.**_

And now . . . On with the show!

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_Water_

_Earth_

_Fire_

_Air_

_Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony,_

_Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked,_

_Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them,_

_But when the world needed him most, he vanished._

_One hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar,_

_An air-bender named Aang,_

_But unknown to us, the avatar of legend, a man named Naruto had reawakened._

_And although Aang's air-bending skills are amazing and Naruto may be the crimson avatar, they both have a lot to learn before they're ready to save anyone._

_But . . ._

_I believe Aang and Naruto can save the world._

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Lessons of Life;

The Bond Between Friends

Inside the forest that was below the mountain, the blond avatar was pacing side to side, his face held the most pensive of faces with his arms crossed and pinching the bridge of his nose, till a low growl made him stop on his tracks and looked to where the growl had come from. Letting out a sigh, the blond dropped one arm to his hip while the other he placed on top of his head;

"Damn . . . how the hell am I going to hide you whenever I need to go into town?" muttered Naruto, scratching the side of his head from the dilemma he had in his hands.

In front of him, a dark red dragon staring at him with its yellow and black slit eyes as it stood a good 14ft. on its hind legs with a small talon on the back, attached to powerful, muscular thighs that supported its weight, giant gargantuan wings that covered majority of the sunlight when spread; its front legs were long enough for it to walk on all four with four claws like talons at its feet, but when it stood, the dragon's front legs seem to look like long arms with four clawed hands ready to strike. Its body was bulky, but not wide. Long, but not like the dragons of from the Fire Nation with a long tail that seem to be long as its body from the snout to hips with a neck that seem to be about 5 ft. long. Its head was massive, for it had two horns sprouting from the back of its head, pointing backwards, its snout was long and wide enough to cover his entire upper body with its fangs being the size of his fingers. Overall, the blond would say the dragon was about 30 ft. long from its snout to the tip of its tail

"I can't bring you along for it would cause a riot and I really don't feel like being ran out of town by every village we may come across," muttered the blond while running his hand through his hair, watching as the dragon lazily sat on the floor, scratching the side of its maw with its feet to only lie down once he finished, staring at him with laziness in its eyes. Letting out a sigh, he walked towards the dragon, Naruto place his hand on the snout of the dragon and began to rub it gently, making the beast let out a soft growl, indicating he liked the treatment he was getting

"I must say though, you did give me a nice surprise as to what you could do. I really didn't expect to see that kind of attack from you," commented the blond while still petting the dragon, looking back at the mountain side that was seen through the leaves of the forest, all covered in giant spikes of rock and frozen molten rock. Sign of a battle that took place in order to tame the massive beast.

The dragon simply nestled its snout against his chest, causing Naruto to turn towards it and simply chuckled as he patted its head;

"Alright, looks we're stuck with one another then," said the blond avatar with a grin, "but you're going to need a name though," he muttered, thinking of a name to give him with concentration etched on his face, till he finally came up with the right name, looking at the dragon with a grin;

"I'm going to call you Shen Lung, what you think?"

The dragon let out a snuffled growl as snorted a small cloud of smoke, causing Naruto to cough slightly as he swatted away the smoke;

"I'm going to take that as a yes *Cough Cough*" coughed the blond till he had enough of the smoke and used his air-bending to create a light breeze to blow away the smoke, then he turned towards his companion;

"You ready to hit the road buddy?" said the blond after he had a few intakes of fresh air

The dragon just lowered his head, signaling the blond to mount him. Getting to what his new traveling companion was saying, he jumped onto the dragon's back and got himself comfortable, or the best he could;

"_Must remember to get a saddle next town I come across,_" he thought while wincing at how the sharp, tiny scales dug onto his skin through his clothing. Reaching with his hand, he patted the dragon's neck;

"Let's fly boy!" exclaimed Naruto, getting ready as the dragon roared and spread its massive wings and with a mighty jump, they both went air born, with Naruto shouting in excitement as they both took into the skies

- \ . / -

Meanwhile, back with Aang and his friends, they were found resting at a nearby lake while said young avatar was trying to his water-bending friend, but was having no success. Katara, Aang, and Sokka meet a traveler who comes from a village that relies solely on the predictions of a fortuneteller named Aunt Wu. Sokka is skeptical about the fortune teller and refuses to believe anything the fortuneteller says as he tries hard to disprove all the predictions she makes, but they end up coming back to bite him in the ass. Katara, on the other hand, is ecstatic about meeting the fortune teller in wanting to know what her fortune might entail. Arriving at the village, the group is greeted by a herald that stood in front of a gate, greeting them as he gestured at the door. Entering the building they were greeted by a young girl, who developed a huge crush on Aang. Aunt Wu shows herself to the gang and instructs Katara to follow her, taking her inside her room;

- / . \ -

Both ladies were sitting inside a room stuffed with pillows with a fire in the middle. The fortune teller asks Katara to show her hand, which she did so, surprising the elder woman by the softness of her hand was;

"Your palms are so smooth? Do you use moisturizer?"' Aunt Wu asked.

"Actually, I have this special lotion that my teacher gave me to help my water bending. A mixture of Lilacs and Lilies with a dash of Vanilla," Katara listed off, both unaware that Aang snuck off from the waiting room to ears drop into their conversation, listening attentively when he heard her ask; "So, do you see anything interesting in my love line?"

Aunt Wu then looked into the young girl's hand and with her hand, she began tracing the lifeline in her hand, concentrating while doing so, till she smiled and looked at her;

"I feel great romance for you. The man you're going to marry."

"Tell me more!" Katara practically demanded.

"I can see that he is a very powerful bender, whose strength knows no bounds."

Once he heard 'powerful bender', Aang went wide eyed as he started doing flips on the hall with smug grin on his face and left in an instant with no doubt in his mind, since no one was more powerful than the avatar. However, his mind seemed to have forgotten that there is someone who could dwarf him in power and if he would have stayed he would have heard more to what Aunt Wu had to say;

"I also see he has gone through many hardships that would have broken even the strongest of men, but over came it in the end as he withholds a fierce determination as if it were a raging wild fire that refuses to be extinguished," Katara listened attentively at the descriptions Aunt Wu was giving her, "His connection towards the Avatar is very unique, but very unclear to its meaning. Good qualities that he has, joyous of life, but no qualms of ending it if the situation is dire, protective of those he considers precious, and loyal to a fault," said the fortune teller while still holding onto her hand

Katara just sat there, taking everything in her mind as she blushed lightly while she tried to picture the image of the man she was suppose to marry in her mind

- \ . / -

After Katara was given her prediction, Aunt Wu calls for the next person to step forward only for Sokka to get on his feet but was stopped on his tracks once the fortune teller predicted his future, claiming that his was easy to read for it was all over his face. Finally, it was Aang's turn for his prediction. He was instructed to grab a bone from the platter and threw it towards the fire where it cracked till it shattered completely, shocking Aunt Wu as she told him that he was going to partake a great battle where the outcome would decide the fate of the world, but Aang just dismissed it without a care as he wanted to know about his love life, making the fortune teller having to lie to him about his prediction.

Katara, however, obsessed with the predictions of her mystery future husband, she returns to the fortuneteller for more predictions on her love life, wanting to know any clues that might lead him towards him. Aang, attempts to attract her attention throughout the whole time, but has no success what so ever. Seeking help from Sokka, Aang explains his situation, and Sokka gives him advice on how to approach the girl, which results into Katara ignoring him even more; eventually he attempts to fetch a rare flower, after witnessing a guy giving the flower to the girl he was smitten with, from the lip of a nearby volcano. After getting the flower, both teens noticed the lava pool flowing within the volcano, revealing to be on the verge of erupting—a direct contradiction to Aunt Wu's predictions. Once they flew down to the town, the group tried to convince the villagers of the upcoming danger, but none believed them, thanks to Sokka's behavior towards Aunt Wu's predictions, leaving them to take matters into their own hands as they grabbed the cloud prediction book. Up in the air, Katara and Aang use water-bending to manipulate the clouds as a warning to the villagers. Sokka tells them of his plan of having earth-benders to build a deep trench that led towards the water while the rest of the villagers evacuate the village before the volcano erupts. One the volcano erupts, the group notices the trench is going to overfilled by the lave and decide to flee, but Aang stayed behind and jumped into the air while using air-bending to suck on the moisture from the clouds and descends to the ground, unleashing onto the lava, pushing it back with its strong currents, making it cool off at a fast rate and saving the village. From afar, both siblings witness the miracle that the young avatar had performed, causing Sokka to comment that Aang is a "powerful bender". This catches Katara's attention, as Aunt Wu had earlier predicted that she would marry a "powerful bender", and slowly, she began to believe that Aang was that bender

Then, days after they had left the village of the fortune teller; Sokka, Aang, were strolling down the forest when they stumbled upon a battle field that was days old, and Sokka, seeing some of the weapons that were discarded, he immediately recognized them. With Katara joining them on the search, they find a seemingly abandoned Water Tribe fleet ship at the coast of the beach. The group decides to camp out near the boat in case someone comes back, only for them to find that it belongs to Bato, an old friend of Katara and Sokka's father, Hakoda, and fellow member of the Southern Water Tribe. Hadoka, happy to seeing them again, invites the group back to where he is being taken care of to talk about good ol' days, but while they reminisce about the old days, Aang feels left out and leaves as headed back towards the boat; where a messenger arrives with a message from Hakoda, inviting his children to visit them. Aang feeling angry; intercepts it and keeps it to himself, fearing they will abandon him. During the next day, the group takes a trial of passage, and succeeding in the process. Aang, feeling guilty after he was awarded the symbol of trust, he comes clean about the message, but Sokka, gets furious at Aang for keeping it from them, and is insistent on leaving to find his father, Katara following behind him.

Meanwhile, Zuko finds a bounty hunter named June, who boarded his ship to find a stowaway with a bounty on his head, and tells her he will pay any price to help him track down the Avatar as they traveled to the previous places the group had visit.

Back with Katara and Sokka, after hearing a story from Bato of how he felt after his comrades left him behind, Sokka could not help but feel bad for making Aang feel what Bato felt. Telling Bato to forgive them, they both had a change of heart and decided to go back and accompany Aang to the North Pole, but only to be ambushed and captured by the Fire Prince himself with his new temporary companion.

After being warned by one of the ladies at the perfume making town about the Fire Nation looking for him, Aang realizes quick that his friends are in danger and glides off to the rescue, fights Zuko and almost lost due to June's tracking creature joining the fight after it went and had a rumble with Appa. Katara, using her water-bending, uses the odors of the perfume to confuse the creature and makes it go into a rampage as it struck anyone within reach, the scarred prince himself, being one of them. Using this turn of events, the group takes off into the skies and safely managed to escape from Zuko's grasps.

After two days after their encounter with Zuko, the gaang find out that Aang is a wanted fugitive by the Fire Nation. Later on, the group land on a hill where a nearby Fire Nation town resided, which was hosting a festival of Fire Nation culture. Aang commented they should go and check it out, in order to try and find a fire-bending teacher, but Sokka disagrees by commenting is too risky, but in the end, the trio ended up traveling into the town to enjoy the festivities. Unfortunately, thanks to his stupidity, Aang's identity is discovered and they make a run for it as they try to avoid being captured by soldiers, but a strange man helps the gang escape as they flew on the flying bison. However, not far behind, our favorite blond avatar was riding his dragon on the air and noticed the fireworks that were caused by deserting soldier that helped Aang and his friends escape. Curious, he instructs the dragon to descend to the ground to investigate;

- / . \ -

The blond stood at the edge of the hill that was on the opposite side where the group had landed, looking down at the town that was still having fireworks firing out of control, causing small fires within the town itself. With a small frown on his face, he turned towards the dragon;

"Shen Lung, you stay here while I go into town and find out what happened," he ordered while he put on his straw hat to cover his face and placed his sword on the side of his waist, and was about to go downhill till he remembered something important and turned towards Lung once again," And stay out of sight, we cannot afford anyone seeing you and cause a commotion."

Shen just snorted and paced towards the forest where the trees were, covering himself in the dark shade they gave as he just laid down, causing Naruto to shake his head in disbelief as he went downhill towards the town;

"That must be the laziest dragon I have ever seen," muttered the blond avatar as he trekked downhill, but stopped once he had stepped over a piece of paper. Curious, he reached down for the piece of paper and looked at its contents;

"_A wanted poster sign?_" thought the blond

"_**Wanted: Jeong Jeong the Deserter**_

_**Military Rank: Admiral**_

_**Discipline Rank: Fire-bending Master**_

_**Wanted for munity against Fire Lord Ozai**_

_**And the murder of many Fire Nation soldiers while escaping Fire Nation base.**_

_**However, many consider him to be dead for he hasn't been seen for over 30 years."**_

_**(A/N)**_

"So the Fire Nation is hunting down one of their own, huh?" muttered Naruto in thought, "If he truly isn't affiliated with the Fire Lord, then I may have found Aang a fire-bending master."

Burning the poster with his flame, the blond resumed his walk, not noticing the figures moving around among the shadows.

Once he had reached a good portion within the forest, Naruto suddenly stopped with his head lowered to cover his eyes with his hat, barely tilting his head to the side with his hand slowly reaching for his sword as he slowly slipped into a defense stance;

"I know you're out there; show yourselves," exclaimed the blond but nothing occurred

Till out of nowhere, ten men wearing cloaks made of leaves and branches from the forest with matching hats appeared wielding their spears at him. Seeing in the situation he was in, the blond slowly began to draw his sword, letting the moon light shine upon the blade, causing the others to tense up upon seeing the weapon being drawn;

"Halt!"

But a shout stopped them before the battle took place, causing everyone, including Naruto, to withdraw their weapons.

"_I'm guessing he must be the leader,_" thought the blond avatar as he saw another man wearing the same attire as the rest coming towards him while the soldiers that blocked his path stepped aside for him to go through till he was standing in front of Naruto, with his hands grasping the spear tightly;

"Who you? And what you here for?" asked the man

"I'm just a traveler heading to town to find a lead on the Avatar and to find out if he had anything to do on the town's 'display' of fireworks," responded the blond truthfully, but once he said he was looking for the Avatar, he found the tip of the spear on his throat, threatening it pierce it, the man glaring at him suspiciously;

"You fire nation?" growled the man, but Naruto just simply raised his hands in the air, gesturing that he didn't mean any harm;

"I don't have any form affiliation with the Fire Nation; I'm just the Avatar's traveling companion," replied Naruto as he looked into the eyes of the man that held the spear at his throat.

The two stayed still for a while, till the leader of the group slowly retracted the spear from him and began to walk back the forest;

"Take him to camp we shall, Jeong Jeong decide what to do with you," said the man suddenly as he led his group into the forest, surprising Naruto as he began walking in the middle of the group while being surrounded by spears on all corners, sulking in his mind;

"_How in the bloody hell do I always get myself into these situations,_" thought the blond avatar with his eyebrow twitching violently

- \ I / -

After walking for a good while in silence through the forest, much to his annoyance, Naruto found himself at their campsite, composed of miniature sheds made of tree trunks with leaves covering them all over for camouflage on top of the small hill at a nearby lake, and by said lake a smaller shed resided on top of a small island with, candle lights illuminating the room, signifying that someone was inside. The leader of the group went ahead into the small hut and entered. After waiting for a few minutes, he came back out and walked towards the blond, pushing him with his spear, causing the blond to look at him;

"He wishes to speak with you," he said before he walked away with the rest of the men towards the forest.

Looking back at the hut, he walked up to the doorway of the hut and took a deep breath, before he slowly walked in. Once inside the hut, he found a dark skinned man with his eyes closed and two knives like scars on his right eye. Scruffy white hair and a long mustache, with rags that resembled those of a vagabond, surrounded by candles with a fairly tall tree next to him.

"_This must be Jeong Jeong,_" thought Naruto as he walked in front of the candles and got on his knees, kneeling at the man in front of him;

"Greetings Master Jeong Jeong, my name is Naruto Namikaze and I seek your aid on these desperate times."

The old fire bender slowly opened his eyes and stared at the teen in front of him. Staring at the young man's eye, he saw much wisdom beyond his years, strength gained through rigorous training, honor and a level of control that can only be attained after many years of discipline.

"You are a strong fire bender boy, why should I teach a boy who learned how to walk before he could even crawl?" asked the old man, surprising Naruto slightly;

"What makes you believe that I'm a fire-bender, when I could be a master of another discipline," stated the blond with narrowed eyes, but the Deserter just maintained his impassive look while he stared back;

"I can tell many things by just seeing the way you walk. You walk with confidence and unafraid, a trait found among the earth-benders, passive and calm like water, wild and alive like fire, carefree and unrestrained like air. Then again, you could be a master of all four or neither one" stated the deserter without breaking eye contact, causing the blond to tense up a tiny bit but hid it very well, "So I ask again, why I should train you when your cup is completely filled."

Naruto stopped to think, and chose his words wisely, "Even though I learned the need to walk before I started crawling, it is not for me, your guidance is required for Master," causing Jeong Jeong's eyebrow to raise in curiosity;

"Then who is the one that seeks his own destruction?" he asked

"The Avatar," was the blonds' only reply

- / I \ -

While Naruto was conversing with the Deserter, the gaang were camping with the man, named Chey that helped them escape, telling the trio about "The Deserter", a master fire-bender named Jeong Jeong who was the first man to desert the Fire Nation army and live to tell the tale. But to Aang, the most important fact about this man was that he is a fire-bender who is not allied with the Fire Nation, a possibility of him learning fire-bending. Making up his mind, Aang tells the group to go find him, making Sokka to outright disagree with the idea, since they had just gotten out of a mess for not listening to him (when do they ever do?), but Aang and Katara manage to convince him to go see him, only for them to be surrounded out of nowhere by the same men that had jumped the blond avatar. Chey and the trio are taken towards their camp, while Chey assures them knowing their captors, and like Naruto, they walked in silence, making the kids get irritated by the quietness of their trip. Sokka being Sokka, was about to whine about his displeasure until they had announced they had arrived, but unknown to the group, Naruto was still inside the hut with Jeong Jeong;

- / I \ -

"I refuse," said Jeong Jeong as he glared into the eyes of the man in front of him, shocking the blond slightly;

"Why would refuse to teach the Avatar?" exclaimed Naruto as he retained his composure

"He is not ready to begin fire-bending if he hasn't mastered the first two disciplines," explained the Deserter

Naruto was about to argue that fact, but few voices coming from the outside had interrupted him, recognizing one of the voices that had spoken;

"_Jeong Jeong wants to see you Chey, go now_"

"_Oh that's ok, we can catch up later_," replied an unknown person nervously

"_Jeong Jeong is down there? That's great because I need to see him_" said Aang but another voice he recognized as the leader interrupted him;

"_No, Chey go, you stay_"

"He may be the Avatar, but he is still much undisciplined in order for him to be taught fire-bending," claimed Jeong Jeong while Naruto simply looked towards Aang's direction and felt the vibrations of Aang's footsteps, and despite that he hated to admit it, but he knew the old master was right. Letting out a sigh, he turned towards the deserter;

"Then be ready to put up a good fight Master Jeong Jeong, for Aang won't give up a chance to learn fire-bending when it's presented to him," said Naruto cautiously as he got up and walked into the shadows, blending in as if he were not there, surprising the deserter greatly at such level of stealth;

"_He's no ordinary man,_" thought the Deserter as he saw Chey walking inside the hut, giving him a very stern, displeased look that caused Chey to flinch under his gaze

- \ I / -

Later that night, Chey stumbled out of the Deserter's hut and walked into the tent that the group was using and sat down, waking Aang and Momo in the process,

"So what did he say, can I see him now?" Asked an excited Aang only to receive a depressing sigh from Chey;

"Master Jeong Jeong is mad that I brought you here. He says you are to leave right away," replied Chey,

"Finally we can go," said Sokka out of nowhere as he pretended to be asleep and started to get up.

"Why won't he see me?" asked Aang

"He says 'you are not ready since you haven't mastered water or earth bending," was the reply

"How can he tell?" questioned Aang, curious as to how the old master knew he hadn't even begun his training in the other elements;

"He saw you walking into camp, he can tell" said Chey,

Not satisfied with the answer, Aang got up and left to speak with Jeong Jeong, but before he entered the hut, Aang stood nervously in front of the entrance and took a couple of deep breaths to calm his nerves as he stepped inside.

Unknown to him, Naruto was carefully watching Aang's every move once he had entered the hut, curious to see as to how will handle Jeong Jeong's refusal to teach him.

"Get out"

Nervous still, Aang slowly walked towards the Deserter, who didn't even bother to turn around and face him, sat down on his knees, and respectfully he pleaded;

"Master, I need to learn fire-bending."

Jeong Jeong stayed quiet for a few moments before he spoke in return;

"Only a fool seeks his own destruction."

Not giving up easily, Aang pressed on the matter, "I'm the Avatar, and it's my destiny to- "

However, Jeong Jeong cut Aang off when he began to preach about his destiny, almost cynically;

"Destiny? What would a boy know of destiny? If a fish lives its whole life in this river, does he know the river's destiny? No! Only that it runs on and on out of his control! He may follow where it flows, but he cannot see the end, he cannot imagine the ocean," said Jeong Jeong as he let the words sank in, but Aang wasn't having any of it;

"O . . . k . . . But it's the Avatar's duty to master all of the bending disciplines," retorted Aang ignorantly and slightly angry at being denied

"_Even though you're the Avatar, you show a lot of immaturity Aang,_" thought Naruto while he shook his head and continued to watch from the shadows

"To master the bending disciplines, you must first master discipline itself. But you have no interest in this, so I have no interest in you. Now get out!" ordered the Deserter with some annoyance coated on his voice

"Please, I have to learn, this could be my only chance," pleaded Aang as he tried to have the man come to his senses

Losing some of his patience, Jeong Jeong turned around with a glare towards Aang,"Are you deaf? How could I teach you if you refuse to listen? Before learning fire-bending, you must learn water and earth. Water is cool and soothing, earth is steady and stable, but fire . . ." he stopped suddenly as he brought his hand next to the small fire atop of the candle, causing the small ember to shrink and expand with a mere thought, "Fire is alive. It breathes. It grows. Without a bender, a rock will not throw itself, but fire will spread and destroy everything in its path if one does not have the will to control it. That is its destiny, you are not ready, you are too weak!" exclaimed the fire master with a glare, causing the fire in the candles to rise into miniature pillars of fire, lighting the room brightly till it suddenly became pitched black for a mere second, till it was illuminated again by a single candle, with the former Avatar standing before him with a frown marred on his face

"You think I am weak?" asked Avatar Roku coldly

"Avatar Roku . . ." gasped Jeong Jeong, before he brought his hands up, waving them negatively, "No, no, I did not mean that."

"I have mastered the elements 1,000 times in 1,000 lifetimes, and now I must do it again," exclaimed the former Avatar as he slowly brought his hand up and lit a fire the tree that was rooted next to Jeong Joeng, "You will teach the Avatar fire-bending."

Jeong Jeong was about to accept Avatar Roku's order, but a voice suddenly spoke out of the darkness, surprising them both, for one person had forgotten that he was still within the hut and the other didn't expect him to be here of all places;

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that to happen Roku," exclaimed the crimson Avatar as he walked out of the shadows, standing in between Roku and the Deserter, gazing into Roku's surprised eyes, "Aang will not be learning fire-bending for his immaturity has proven that he is incapable of controlling his passion, and that will only cause him to endanger himself and those around him if he isn't able to control the fire."

Avatar Roku just narrowed his eyes and stared passively back at Naruto;

"I have outmost confidence in Aang, he will be able to handle the responsibility that is bestowed when learning the fire discipline," retorted Roku, causing Naruto to deepen his gaze, both standing in silence while Jeong Jeong just sat there.

Then Naruto slowly closed his eyes as he took a deep intake of air and slowly let it out, turning his gaze towards the Deserter;

"Teach the Avatar fire-bending, we shall see if Roku's trust in the boy isn't misplaced," said Naruto as Jeong Jeong just bowed his head lightly with his eye closed

Avatar Roku just slightly bowed in respect, "Thank you for understanding Avatar Naruto."

"A warning Roku . . . "suddenly said the blond avatar, making Roku shot his head up in surprise, "Aang better learn to control the burning desire within him for I will be watching or I will step in if he hurts those around him."

Avatar Roku stayed quiet for a few minutes; till he slowly nodded his head and both he and Naruto slowly began to disappear from their spot, as if they were never there in the first place as everything turned back to normal, leaving the Deserter alone with Aang;

"Yes . . . I will teach you fire-bending," said Jeong Jeong

"Really! That's great!" exclaimed Aang puffing his fists up in the air while grinning like an idiot. Jeong Jeong just groaned, slamming his palm onto his forehead;

- / I \ -

The following day, Aang had began his training Jeong Jeong in fire-bending, starting with breathing exercises, much to Aang's disappointed, and told him to practice breathing throughout the whole day, explaining to feel the heat of the sun for it was the very source of fire-bending, as he breaths, meanwhile Naruto watched with amusement from a distance within the forest;

"Widen your stance," ordered Jeong Jeong, standing in front of Aang with his arms behind his back, watching while he the Avatar sat on his horse stance on a small patch of earth. Aang did so, but it seemed it wasn't enough for the Deserter;

"Wider!" and Aand spread his stance far enough, "Now . . . sink on your knees," and Aang allowed his body to sink while on his stance, "Concentrate," causing Aang to make an exaggerated face of concentration;

"Good," said the Deserter before he began to walk away, that is until Aang broke from his task and questioned Jeong Jeong

"Wait! What do I do now?" but the Deserter turned around with a strict glare;

"Silence! Talking is not concentrating," then he pointed towards Katara, "Look at your friend, is she talking?" then pointed at Sokka, "Even that oaf knows to concentrate on what he's doing."

"Hey!" whined Sokka, taking an offense at being called an oaf and Naruto just chuckled in amusement at the scene

"But what am I concentrating on?" asked Aang with uncertainty etched on his face

"Feel the heat of the sun, it is the greatest source of fire, yet it is in complete balance with nature," preached Jeong Jeong, but Aang didn't care about that;

"So . . . when do I get to make fire?"

"CONCENTRATE!" ordered the fire master with annoyance, leaving him alone with the siblings as they both laughed at his predicament

Naruto just shook his head with a small smirk on his face as he chuckled lightly;

"You still have a long road ahead of you Aang," said the blond before he left his spot to go to where his animal companion was

- \ I / -

Later that day, Aang was following his teacher uphill as they walked on the mountain, the air becoming thinner as they reached to the top, and as always, Aang kept pestering the Deserter creating fire; but said person simply stated he wasn't ready yet. Once on top, Jeong Jeong explained the necessity of breathing for fire-bending as Aang begrudgingly resumed his stance and began to breathe through the nose and exhale through the mouth, once satisfied with Aang's breathing rhythm, he went back to his hut, leaving Aang by himself on top of the mountain. Moments later, Aang storms into the hut, demanding for Jeong Jeong to stop wasting his time, for he claimed that he knows how to breathe and feel the sun and to teach him some real fire-bending, but the Deserter simply told him of his once student that had the same attitude, he didn't care about the discipline that came with the teachings, all he cared about was the destructive power that it wielded in order to wipe any obstacle or opponents that came in his way. Telling that fire was a terrible burden for without restrain, it will consume everything, thus destroying yourself and everything you love around you, leaving Aang with a lot to think about as the words had sank in, leaving quietly the hut.

- / I \ -

Outside of the Deserter's hut, the blond avatar was seen resting on top of a branch as he continued to watch Aang's progress under Jeong Jeong, and so far he can say that is unimpressed, especially after the tantrum the young avatar had just thrown;

*Sigh*"I do hope Aang doesn't take Jeong Jeong's words lightly," muttered the blond as he sat up with his legs crossed and heard a rustling noise. Looking down, he saw Aang had come out of the hut with his head hung low, walking towards the small patch of dirt he had first used on the beginning of his training and sat down in a meditative position, "Speak of the devil."

Moments later after Aang had come out, the Deserter steps out of his hut, staring at Aang with a blank look on his face, both stayed quiet till Aang chose to speak;

"I thought about everything you said," began Aang, "I promise to be more patient."

"_There may be some hope for him after all,_" thought Naruto after witnessing the young boy's mature attitude

"We are going to work with fire now," exclaimed Jeong Jeong, causing Aang to leap into the air, cheering as he landed on the ground, then quickly regained his composure and turned towards Jeong Jeong,

"I mean let us begin," said Aang

"Mature my ass, he hasn't listened to a damn thing spoken to him," muttered the blond while he slammed his palm on his face

Suddenly the Deserter reached out for one of the falling leaves, catching it with his thumb and pointing finger, making it spark as it began to burn slightly on his touch as he walked towards Aang;

"Concentrate on the fire, I want you concentrate from keeping the flames reaching the edges of the leave as long as you can," instructed Jeong Jeong, only for Aang to once again groan at the exercise

"Master! There is trouble," said one of the camouflaged soldiers as he neared the camp

"What's going on?" demanded Aang

"Concentrate on your leaf," instructed the Deserter before he left him alone with Katara

"This is the worst fire-bending instruction ever, all he does is leave me alone for hours to concentrate on breathing" whined Aang, but his friend tried to cheer him up;

"I'm sure there's a good reason," said Katara

"But I'm ready to do so much more," complained Aang till he got an idea and resumed his stance and began to breath as he was instructed till a small ember of fire formed in his hands, both Katara and Naruto tensed up once they saw him create fire

"Please Aang . . . don't do anything stupid," pleaded Naruto in a whisper as he got ready to jump in incase things got out of hand

"I did it! I made fire!" shouted Aang with enthusiasm

"Aang, that's great, but you should take it slow," replied Katara with concern and fear on her voice, then suddenly the fire grew, causing Aang to almost fall back into the water

"Careful!" shouted the young water-bender. Aang regains his composure and makes the fire return back to normal

"Now that's fire-bending!" exclaimed the Avatar before he shot both his hands forward, shooting a long stream of fire into the air

"Aang, you'll hurt yourself!" pleaded Katara, hoping for him to stop, but it fell on deaf ears as Aang started to play with the small ball of fire by throwing it round in his hands, then he stopped;

"Wonder how that juggler did it?" wondered Aang before he crouched and began spinning as he rose to his feet, spreading his arms outward, causing the fire to spread in a circle. Noticing that the flame wheel was big enough to engulf Katara whole, he jumped off his tree branch and landed in front of Katara, who was screaming at the incoming flames, with her hands out in hopes of stopping the fire from engulf her while Aang gasped at seeing Naruto, but said blond managed to tackle her down into the ground, however, not fast enough to save her hands as she let out a cry of pain. As she lay on the floor, Katara brought her hands under her armpits, in hopes of bringing down the pain;

"Katara! Naruto!" shouted Aang, jumping next to them, "I'm so sorry!"

But unfortunately, Sokka chose that moment to appear, for he had heard the cry his sister had let out, and the sight of Katara being on the ground with Naruto, whose back clothing was scorching lightly, laid next to her;

"Katara, what's wrong!" asked Sokka in concern as he allowed Naruto to get up on his feet to allow Sokka reach his sister, he saw the burnt marks once he had noticed her hands. Glaring at Aang, "What did you do?"

"It was an accident! I was . . . Katara, I'm so . . ." said Aang as he tried to reach for her, but was tackled to the ground by Sokka, who mounted him and grabbed him by the scruff of his attire;

"I told you we shouldn't have mess around with this! Look at what you did! If it hadn't been for Naruto, you would have burnt my sister even worse!" shouted Sokka angrily with his fist cocked back, ready to punch Aang, and would have if Naruto hadn't interfered by grabbing Sokka by the wrist and by using little strength, sent the wolf-tailed boy away from Aang, while Katara ran away, sobbing as the pain continued.

Staring at Sokka with a blank expression, he instructed with a cold voice;

"I'll catch up with Katara and try to heal her hands, don't do anything stupid," turning towards Aang with an emotionless glare, "We have seen enough recklessness for today," causing Aang to flinch as he left the two of them just as Jeong Jeong had walked into the scène.

- \ I / -

Naruto had followed the trail Katara had taken, leading him towards the river, where she kneeled down, sobbing still at the pain that coursed through her hands.

Unknown to her of Naruto's presence, Katara looked into the river and slowly brought her hands into the water, but the cool sensation of the water made her hands hurt even more and caused a ripple in the water when she jerked her hands back with her eyes closed. Slowly she opened her eyes as she suddenly felt a presence next to her, and gasped in shock when Naruto's reflection appeared on the water, kneeling down next to her and slowly and gently, clasped both her hands by the wrists;

"Shh just slowly place your hands into the water, I'll do my best to heal them, k," soothed the crimson avatar while Katara simply nodded her head with a small tinge of pink on her cheeks due to how approximately close they were.

Naruto paying attention to the task at hand began to concentrate but stopped as his eyes had widen in surprise when he saw her hands being healed by the water as it cocooned itself around her hands;

"What happened?" asked Katara as she too looked astonished at what she just had seen

"You have healing abilities. The great benders of the Water Tribe sometimes have this ability, and are able to cure many illnesses once they become proficient in the art," replied Naruto as he gently inspected her hands with his own jutsu. Satisfied that there was no scarring, he looked towards the girl with a small smile;

"You should no longer feel pain, they are completely healed," said the blond but was surprised when she hugged him out of the blue, "Katara . . . ?"

"I'm glad you are ok, I was worried since the time we left you fighting those pirates and when Aang had told us of how you infiltrated the base he was being held captive, we thought you had been captured as well," replied the girl as she dropped the hug and would have continued talking if the Deserter hadn't arrived

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" asked Jeong Jeong surprised, then looked at the girls hands and noted that they were no longer burnt, "You managed to heal her hands have you?"

Blond just shook his head;

"It was all her, she healed herself once she placed the her hands in the water," commented Naruto

"The healing abilities of the Water Tribes," said the Deserter as he walked towards them and sat down next to Katara, *Sigh*"I've always wished I were blessed like you. Free from this burning curse."

Surprised by the comment, Katara spoke;

"But you're a great master. You have powers I'll never know."

"Water brings healing and life. But fire brings only destruction and pain, it forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor edge thin line between humanity and savagery and eventually we're torn apart, clarified the Deserter while the two listened to what the master was saying, until Naruto rapidly got up with his hand on his sword, and unleashed it, cutting a fire blast in half while Jeong Jeong dispersed the second one, both getting ready to battle;

"Looks like we have been found," muttered the blond, while Jeong Jeong just nodded his head.

"Naruto take your friends your friends and flee! Don't come back here or you'll be destroyed!" exclaimed the Deserter before he turned and created a massive wall of fire to prevent the three boats that came into view from advancing to river shore

Half-way to camp, Naruto suddenly stopped, causing Katara to stop as well to turn around and look at him;

"Naruto, what's wrong?"

"Keep running and warn the others, I have to go back and help Jeong Jeong," said the blond before he dashed back from whence they came from, leaving Katara by herself till she ran as fast as she could till she found Sokka as soon as she entered camp;

"Katara! Are you alright?" asked a concerned Sokka

"I'm fine but we need to get out of here, where's Aang?" she said and Sokka just pointed back towards the hut with a sour look on his face, still angry about Aang harming his sister, walking towards the hut, she went inside and found the young avatar sulking behind the candles while facing the wall;

"Jeong Jeong tried to tell me that I wasn't ready, I wouldn't listen. I'm never going to fire-bend again," proclaimed Aang depressingly

"You'll have to eventually," replied Katara

"No! Never again," he said firmly

"It's ok Aang, I'm healed," reassured Katara

"What! How?" he asked

"I'll explain later, but right now, we have to get out here. Zhao and his soldiers are attacking!" she informed him

"Where!" he asked as he jumped to his feet

"By the river, they captured Jeong Jeong and Naruto went back to help him."

"I have to help them!" exclaimed Aang as he runs out of the hut

- / I \ -

"You better not die on me old man," said Naruto out loud as he came to the river bank where the Deserter was, but found him surrounded by Admiral Zhao and his men;

"_Damn it, I need is a distraction but what?,_" thought Naruto till he saw Aang ran towards the group of fire benders shouting "Jeong Jeong!", giving Naruto enough time to make his way towards the tree line that his master was walking backwards towards.

"Men grab the Deserter, the Avatar is mine!" ordered Admiral Zhao, and from the sidelines, Naruto watched as the fire benders started attacking Jeong Jeong but quickly countered by making a big dome of fire to make his escape;

"Let's see what my old master taught you Avatar!" shouted Zhao sending blasts of fire balls at the shocked teen that just started dodging the attacks, "Duck and evade, so the old man taught you how to be a coward, but I doubt he showed what a true fire bender is truly capable of!" shouted Zhao, who sent a large fire ball at Aang, only to watch as Naruto suddenly appeared out of nowhere and decapitated the fireball in half,

"You again . . . "growled Zhao in hate, remembering the casualties he had caused back at the fortress. Naruto turned back towards Aang saying, "Aang there are still more men lurking around in the forest, I'll go deal with them before they reach Sokka and Katara and remember the lessons Master Jeong Jeong taught you," making the young air bender nod dumbly, still shocked to find his friend here and watched as the blond avatar ran back into the trees.

Zhao intended to interfere in the blonds' retreat as he shot a massive fire blast, but Aang intervened by jumping in front of it and air-bend a whirling shield, splitting the blast in two.

- \ I / -

Naruto ran as fast as he could towards the campsite and found Appa, Sokka and Katara surrounded by a dozen of fire nation warriors once he got there,

"Damn it to hell!"cursed the blond and reached for a couple of kunais on his strap and sent them sailing through the air, while he shouted, "Kage Shuriken Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Making the two kunais he had thrown into a dozen kunais, hitting each of the soldiers' dead center on their heads as they were caught off guard, killing them instantly while Sokka and Katara just stood there rooted in horror at what they had just witnessed. Sokka was first to get out of his shock once he had spotted Naruto, with a blank look on his eyes as he continued to approach them with his sakabatou in hand;

"What the hell is going on!" cried Sokka as he pointed at the dead soldiers, Naruto just sighed and look at young warrior dead in the eye;

"I apologize that you both had to see this, but this is war. It's kill or be killed, we cannot have sympathy for the enemy when they are willing to kill us without a thought, you of all people should understand that concept Sokka," said Naruto as he maintained his glare against Sokka, but the young warrior, seeing the casualties of war first hand, just turned his head to the side, not knowing how to handle it. Feeling sympathy for the boy, for he could still remember being on his shoes when had witnessed a warriors death on his first mission, he placed his hand on Sokka's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze;

"You're still young and never taken a life, which I pray you never do for it is something that will haunt you till death, but I believe in you Sokka, that you will grow into a warrior of great respect," said Naruto sincerely, making Sokka grow eye wide at Naruto's words, but the moment didn't last long for a faint whistling sound was heard throughout the forest, and Naruto turned around with a swung of his sword, destroying several arrows that were aimed at them;

"Damn it! Not them again," muttered the blond avatar, and then, turning towards the siblings he ordered, "Get going you two!"

"What! No! Naruto come with us!" replied Katara after she got out of her shock as well, only to have Naruto shake his head;

"I'm their target, I cannot put you both at risk, now move!" ordered the blond again, only this time he grabbed Sokka by the back of his shirt and like a rag-doll, he swung his arm upward, sending Sokka sailing into Appa's saddle, landing face first. After hearing Sokka's landing, he turned towards the water-bender saying; "Katara, unless you want me to throw you the same say, then I suggest you get moving!" said the blond.

The girl wanted to argue, but she knew this wasn't the best of times to argue with the blond, and so, reluctantly she began to climb on Appa's back, but Naruto with his enhanced hearing, he heard the whistles of incoming arrows headed straight at the girl, grabbed her by the belt and harshly pulled her towards him, making the arrows miss and embed themselves onto the ground. Noting that they were getting closer, the blond did the only best he thought was possible, he smacked Appa in the back hard while yelling;

"APPA! YIP YIP!" and the flying bison let out a moan before he took off into the skies, with Sokka looking back, noticing that both of them were surrounded by dozen of archers wearing Fire Nation clothing;

"NARUTO! KATARA!" yelled the boy, but it was too late for the bison to turn around

- / I \ -

"What do we do now?" asked Katara a shaky voice, fear evident on her voice as she saw the archers ready their weapons to attack as she hid behind Naruto.

"_This is bad . . . ._" thought Naruto, as he also saw the weapons being ready to fire, thinking of any possibilities of escape in his mind, but so far he was coming out with blanks;

"_Damn it! It's not like I can teleport myself . . . ._" thought the blond till it suddenly hit him, and rapidly, he reached out at Katara and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to his chest while he made a hand sign with his free hand;

"Hold on tight," ordered Naruto and she obeyed without second thought, shutting her eyes close as she saw the arrows were released, raining at them while thinking that there was no way they could escape till she felt a coating sensation wrap itself around her and saw a plume of smoke surround them both as soon as she opened her eyes, noticing that they had displaced themselves from the ground towards the tree branch above them and watched Naruto reached for two of his throwing knifes and threw them both at the archers, and quickly he made another kind of hand sign as he shouted his jutsu, multiplying the two throwing knifes into twenty, mutilating some of the archers down below while a couple managed to escape the rain of death.

"Now's our chance," declared Naruto as he scooped Katara into his arms and made a dashed through the woods, with the last couple of remaining archers following right behind while shooting their arrows at the blond, but missing their target as the sound of the arrows hitting the tree branches.

Taking note that he couldn't stop dodging arrows forever, he came up with a plan in mind;

"Katara, are you afraid of heights?" asked the blond suddenly while continuing to run/hop from branch to branch.

"No, why?" she asked, not liking the question one bit, and her suspicions were confirm for the blond simply threw her high up in the air while he was still air-born and landed on a large trunk as yu-yan archer tried to sneak attack him, but didn't take account that the blond was counting on such tactics that he swiftly drew his blade out while turning and jammed the blade forward into the archers gut and slashing vertically upward, cutting the man in half from the stomach and let it fall as he waited for the second one to jump from the side as he tried to use the bow as a weapon, but Naruto managed to block as they both were locked in a contest of strength, however, the blond knew what they were planning, and lessen the hold on his sword, making the archer fall forward into a kick from the blond, hitting him directly in the abdomen and knocking backward a few feet so he could side step to the left in order to dodge four arrows that were directed at him.

Hearing the sounds of screaming approaching at a rapid pace, the blond looked up to find the young water-bender descending rapidly towards the ground.

The archer believing that the blond was distracted, jumped out of his hiding spot right in front of Naruto with his small swords ready to strike, but unfortunately for him, the blond had already known where he was hiding and using his might, he threw the sword at the archer, coursing through his chest and embedding itself into the three with the body hanging limp as it bled all over the tree, allowing Naruto to jump up and catch Katara in mid air and landing on top of the blade, letting her down on her feet on top of his. Catching her breath and composure, she glared dangerously at Naruto, causing him to gulp loudly, and grabbed him by the scruff of his vest;

"Never, EVER, do that again, are we clear!" growled Katara while Naruto just nodded his head with a sweat drop forming on the back of his head, then quickly, he gained a serious look on his face;

"We need to get moving, we are not out of the woods just yet," commented the blond as he wrapped his arm around the girl's waist and jumped off the blade as he reached for the handle and using his falling momentum, pulled out the sword out of the tree, letting the dead body of the archer fall into the ground, which didn't go unnoticed by Katara as they both landed on a lower tree branch;

"Do you always have to kill?" asked the girl softly, but he heard her nonetheless;

". . . . It's not much of a choice . . . when you're forced to kill in order to survive and protect that what you value more than yourself," softly replied the blond, remembering those he had to kill, to insure the survival of his people and loved ones.

Sheathing his sword, the blond brought his hand up to his mouth and blew a loud whistle that echoed throughout the forest and without a word, the blond scoop the girl into his arms once again as he ran through the forest, never noticing the remaining archer following hot on his trail. Noticing that the forest was coming to an end, the blond took a giant leap as he jumped out of the forest and landed on the ground, looking down at the forest for the way was cut as they stood at the edge of a giant hill and looked back as the sound of branches rustling reached his ears, only to find out that one of the archers managed to survive, but was still wounded, making Katara grow a little nervous as she watched the wounded archer walk towards them slowly;

"Katara," she heard the blond say and turned at him, "Do you trust me?" he asked her without even looking at her. Doubt entered her mind at what he asked of her, but it clearly went away as she reencountered the few times Naruto had come to their aid, and with a firm voice she looked at him;

"Yes."

And without a word, he wrapped one of his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him as he jumped off the cliff as he reached for a hidden kunai and launched it towards the archer, surprising him as it hit him in the side, and fell down the hill while Katara shut her eyes closed, never noticing a black shadow covering them as Shen Lung scooped them both on mid air on his back and flew into the horizon at fast speeds, leaving behind their pursuer, although, the Yu-Yan archer walked/limped and stood at the edge of the hill as he watched the dragon fly away with its master. Although, he was persistent at not willing to let them escape, the archer readied his bow and took aim as he tried to find a nice bull's eye at the retreating creature and once he found it, he shot it and watched it soar through the sky as it headed towards its intended target. Too bad he noticed too late the smell of smoke as he looked down only to find an exploding tag attached to the kunai, blowing him into pieces along with a large part of the hill

- \ I / -

While Naruto was running away and decimating the yu-yan archers, Aang was going through a rumble of his own as he faced off against Admiral Zhao and used his own lack of self control against him to destroy his own ships, allowing Aang to swim back to shore where Sokka was waiting on top of Appa, noticing that Katara wasn't with him, he turned towards him;

"Sokka, where's Katara?"

"I got separated from Katara and Naruto when we got ambushed by some archers back at the camp," replied Sokka, making Aang's eyes to widen

"We have to go back and save them!" exclaimed Aang worried that they have captured the girl

"We can't," grumbled the boy, causing Aang to get angry, "What you mean we can't!"

"They could have run anywhere inside the forest and knowing Naruto from what you told us of what he is capable back at the fortress, he and Katara would have killed them already and covered a lot of ground by now," said Sokka dejectedly at the fact that he couldn't protect his sister while Aang just sat there, looking depressed that not only he had hurt his crush unintentionally but also was traveling with someone else

"Aang, we have to keep going," said Sokka out of the blue, "I trust Naruto to protect Katara and we both know that he is heading to the North Pole, so we'll see Katara again."

Aang just nodded his head somberly as they continued to fly on the bison's back

- / I \ -

However, back with Naruto and Katara, both had been flying for a couple of hours, putting a long distance between Zhao and themselves, and Shen was starting to tire by flying at high speeds and needed to rest as he began to descend towards the ground, landing on the water at a nearby lake that was surrounded by a rocky terrain. Katara, dismounting herself of the dragon, took a look of their surroundings and noted a cave nearby; she walked towards it and took a peek inside, to insure that there was no one occupying it. Satisfied, she turned and ran towards the blond, but came to a stop once she had noted that he looked a little pale and was sweating profusely, as his arm hanged like a limp;

"Naruto . . . what's wrong?" she asked him with worry in her eyes

Smiling weakly, as he tried to not worry the girl;

"Nothing . . . . . just a tad bit thirsty . . . " he said before he lost consciousness and fell into the water with an audible splash, with a long arrow sticking out of his back left shoulder

"Naruto!" shouted Katara as she ran towards him.

Moments later, thanks to the help of Shen Lung, Naruto was carefully moved inside the cave Katara had found and wasted no time in gathering some dry wood to start a fire while Naruto was placed inside a futon she had accidently found when she opened one of the scrolls she had found on his possession and close to the fire after having carefully pulled out the arrow and strip his upper body of any weapon and clothing to clean the wound, taking notice of how well he was develop but was more curious at the spiral scar that adorned his abdomen. Looking more closely, she could point out that some markings were scarred around the spiral as she traced them with her hand, but quickly shook her head as she concentrated herself at the task at hand and tended to his wound by applying some of the water wrapped around her hand to help it heal.

After the attempt, she was satisfied that the wound was halfway closed, but still had to bandage him to make sure the wound would heal correctly and didn't get infected and carefully laid him back on the futon, covering him up with a wet towel on top of his head;

"There, that should do it," commented Katara as she wiped a bid of sweat from her brow

Feeling tired herself, Katara walked towards the dragon timidly, but the creature lowered his head and nuzzled its head against her chest, causing her to giggle lightly as she pet him;

"Aren't you a docile one," said Katara with a small smile before she walked back towards Naruto and laid down next to him using her arms as a pillow and slowly drifted to sleep, with Shen Lung curling himself around them both in a protective manner as he too fell into a slumber.

The following the day, the early morning sun rays were lighting thought the entrance of the cave, hitting the blond directly and disturbing his slumber as he slowly woke up. Slowly he sat up as he felt a slight jolt of pain coursing through his left shoulder, and reached for shoulder only to find it wrapped in bandages;

"What the hell . . .?" muttered the blond as he inspecting his state of dress only to find himself shirtless with bandages wrapped themselves around his chest and shoulder, and turned towards his left when he heard soft snoring, finding Katara laid next to him facing him, with a small smile on her face as she slept peacefully with Shen Lung curled up around them both. Feeling the soreness of laying down for too long, the blond decided to get up and stretch his muscles with a light morning exercise, waking up the dragon as it brought his head up to watch its master walk out of the entrance of the cave, but not before Naruto turned back;

"I won't be gone long, k. Protect Katara in the meantime," said the blond before he left the cave and noticed where they were at;

"I could practice here, but I would have to do it from a distance so she won't see me bend," said the blond to himself till he jump high towards the water, where he stood perfectly on top of it and ran far into the lake till he felt he had put a good distance between the mainland and himself. Closing his eyes slowly, Naruto and slowly brought both his arms up and twisted his upper body side to side as he moved his arms side to side as well, one arm over the over with each turn, making the water rise around him in a circular motion and slowly brought his arm again in front of him and slowly brought them down in front of his waistline, and began slowly making circular motions causing the surrounding water around him to being spinning, and quickly picked up the pace a bit causing the water to speed its motion, almost looking like water typhoon with him being at its eye till he suddenly brought his forearms out, dispersing the typhoon as it washed in all directions with him standing perfectly still. Then instantly he jumped in mid air with a spinning rising kick, white flames sprouting out the sole of his feet before he landed and made a spin motion to end with both his fist outwards, shooting flames out of his fist as well, then he brought his left leg up and placed it in front of right in a crouching motion with both his arms extended out of opposite ways with the flames sprouting out of his fist and finished the routine with a high kick to the side, launching a powerful ember as it coursed through the ocean till it dispersed.

However, the blond had to clinch his left shoulder for it wasn't completely healed just yet, and not wanting to risk furthering the injury, he had decided to end practice early, and walked back to land, but stopped suddenly when an idea popped into mind and slowly, brought his right palm up, forming a mid size sphere out of water as it rose from the ocean with some fish swimming about inside;

"Breakfast is served," commented Naruto humorously

Back inside the cave, Katara was beginning to stir till she slowly sat up and looked towards the sleeping bag where she had laid Naruto after dealing with his injuries, but gasped in shock when she found that he wasn't there. Franticly, she got up and looked for him around the cave, waking Shen as he lazily looked at Katara with an annoyed look in its eyes;

"Where did he go?" whispered Katara, but began to worry when she heard footsteps coming from the entrance of the cave, even Shen Lung began to growl, ready to pounce the unfortunate soul that dared to step inside, but then both relaxed when they saw that it was none other than the blond himself with a stack of fish hanging on his back;

"I'm back and I brought some breakfast with me," commented Naruto as he dropped the fish and reached outside the cave to pull inside what seemed to be a dead sea lion seal, and threw it towards his dragon that happily began to dig in as he tore into the meat. Looking towards Katara, he grew confused as to why she had an angry look on her face;

"Ehh . . . what's wrong?" asked Naruto nervously

"What's wrong? You just up and leave so you can go fishing when you're in no condition to excess yourself!" ranted Katara with her arms crossed

"Relax, I feel fine, see?" says Naruto as he flexes his left arm, but only grimaced when a sudden shot of pain went through his arm, "K, maybe not a hundred percent."

Katara just slowly shook her head till she walked towards him and motioned towards the rock next to him, "Sit."

Naruto obliged as he sat down with his back turned towards her and slowly she began to unwrap the bandages, revealing the wound had closed completely but it still looked pretty pink as the wound had not completely healed, making her gasp in surprise;

"How is it healing so fast, just yesterday you had this gaping hole on your shoulder," said Katara as she trace the closed wound with her finger tips, sending shivers through his spine

"I'm a fast healer," quickly responded the blond

Reaching for her flask, he opened it and bended the water onto her hand, covering it like a glove as she placed her hand on his shoulder, and a bright light illuminated her hand as it manage to speed the healing process of the wound;

"I'm sorry," he said out of the blue, bringing her out of her stupor;

"What?"

"I'm sorry for getting you involve in all of this and seeing the deeds I had to commit," said the blond without looking at her, causing a long pause to appear between the two as both of them didn't say a word;

"How can you act so casual?" she asked suddenly

"Huh?" said the blond as he didn't understand the question, slowly turning around to look at her

"How can you act so casual when you just deprived another person of their life," she asked with slight confusion and fear in her eyes, making the blond look down and let out a tired sigh;

"Back where I'm from, we are considered shinobi, a trained assassin. We take jobs from the village leader without question, for if we were to deny them, it would have been considered treason, and if you ran and turned your back on the village, you would be on the run, constantly looking over your shoulder for you would never know when a hunter would appear to kill you," said Naruto with a voice void of any emotion, as the memories of the Fourth Great War plagued his mind, every person that had been brought to life due to a forsaken jutsu killed once again by his hand, "And as I told your brother, during times of war, you don't have a choice as your hand is forced to take the lives of others, but with each death, you lose a piece of sanity till it becomes unbearable and become dead on the inside."

Katara just stood there, listening to his every word and watched his every action, noting the haunted look in his eye as he watched his hands. Concerned, she kneeled in front of him and cupped his hands with hers;

"Naruto . . . "she began but she was interrupted by him, "That's why I make the choices those of pure heart like Aang or Sokka can't make, so people like them don't soil themselves with the blood of others and loose themselves in the cycle of madness," said Naruto as he looked at Katara with a fiery will that she had never seen before as his eyes regained their shine;

"Naruto, you don't have to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders, you're not alone," said Katara, "You have Aang, Sokka and me."

"_If you only knew Katara, that the man I didn't had the heart to kill when I had the chance long ago, is the one responsible for this war and the death of your mother,_" thought Naruto as he looked into the girl's blue eyes, that is until he looked at his hands and noticed they were still holding hands.

Getting confused as to what he was staring at, she followed his train of sight and blushed red as she hadn't paid attention, but unconsciously, she had interlocked their hands more than she had intended and barely jumped away while trying to control her blush, leaving a blinking Naruto as he watched the girl act strangely. Chuckling, Naruto stood up and walked towards his shirt, as it hung on his blade along with his kunais while Katara simply watched as he reached for his vest and put it back on, catching a glimpse of the scar she had seen the previous day. She didn't want to pry, but damn it, she was curious;

"Um . . . Naruto?" said the girl, trying to get his attention

"Yea?" replied the blond as he finished buttoning his vest and placed his sword on his sash

"How did you get that scar on your stomach?"

That question made him stop, for he really didn't expect her to ask him that, and unconsciously, his left hand reached to where once the seal that once held the mighty Kyuubi no Yoko, and quickly regain his composure as he grabbed his strap that held the kunais and placed it across his chest, leaving a uncertain water-bending girl for she didn't know if she had hit a nerve or asked something she wasn't suppose to;

"I'm sorry for –"began Katara, but was once again interrupted but the blond;

"The scar used to be something that was a bane of my existence, a curse throughout most of my life, but it became my greatest gift in the end," replied Naruto without looking at her, confusing her once again;

"A curse? What kind of curse?" asked the girl naively;

"The kind that had every villager look at me with most utter hate and curse my very existence as they tried to kill me, starve me, isolate me, and leave me homeless since I was nothing but a child," replied Naruto as it caused the girl to widen her eyes in shock at his answer, "And that's just the sugar coated version," making her widen more in shock;

"But how were you able to remain calm and cheerful? I would have gone insane and get revenge for what they had done to me," exclaimed Katara as she hugged herself, but Naruto simply shrugged his shoulders;

"If I had done that, then I wouldn't be any better than them," said the blond, "And like I said last time, if I had concern myself by allowing their hate to consume me, I would have missed many things that came into my life, and grown weaker out of it instead of getting stronger."

Katara just sat there on with her knees folded, watching the man that took the hate of his village and rose above it to become the person she sees in front of him,

"So . . . what you have been doing since we parted ways the last time?" asked the blond suddenly,

"Huh?" said Katara as she got out of her stupor,

"What you guys have been doing since we parted ways last time?" he repeated the question, making the girl sigh;

"So much has happened that it will too long to tell," said Katara but jumped in fright as a sudden crash of thunder was heard outside the cave. Both looked towards the entrance of the cave and saw that it was raining heavily;

"It seems we have time, for we are going to be here for a while," said the blond as he turned towards her, who just shook her head with a small smile on her face;

"Then might as well get comfortable, 'cause it is a long story," said Katara and began her tale of what she and boys had gone through, from going to the fire temple so can could talk to Avatar Roku, and Admiral Zhao almost capturing them at the temple and how he claimed how Aang had destroyed his fleet that was sent to capture him at the South Pole, causing Naruto to flinch at that, which Katara didn't notice at all as she continued with her tale. Then she told him when they met a teen named Jet, which Naruto could tell something happened by the way her voice carried its sadness and betrayal, and how he in the end, tried to drown a village full of innocent people but managed to save them in time thanks to Sokka, then she told of the Great Divide, which Naruto just laughed, claiming that it was funny, but got a glare in return till she also began to laugh.

Then she said how they were low on money and Sokka ended up taking a job as a fisherman and ended up heading into a storm that got them both sick in the end, and how Aang ended up taking care of them after Naruto saved him from the fortress, and lastly she told him when they met a fortuneteller, and told her of her future and about the man she was suppose to marry, which left Naruto skeptical about it;

"Do you actually believe what she says?" asked Naruto with curiosity

"Well . . . . yea, I mean, so far her predictions have come true, and but I'm confused, she told me that I would marry a powerful bender, and Aang is the avatar, and no one is stronger than the Avatar, but he doesn't have the other qualities that Aunt Wu had told me," said Katara as she kept thinking about her prediction, making Naruto chuckle

"What's so funny?" angrily pouted Katara, while Naruto just raised his hand to signify to calm down;

"If you want to follow her words that's up to you, but life has a funny way of guiding you towards the person you end up spending the rest of your life with, nothing is planned," said Naruto wisely as he remembered on his marriage with Ten-ten and how in a million years he would have never thought he would end up marrying her, but was happy it happened.

"I guess you're right," replied Katara

"Just keep on going with your life and everything will come to you when the time is appropriate," said the blond and then he looked outside the cave, noticing that it had stopped raining, "and looks like we can finally leave and go look for Aang and Sokka."

At his comment, the young water-bender looked towards the entrance of the cave, and indded it had stopped raining while Naruto gather their stuff and placed it on top Shen, and mounted him and turned towards Katara with his hand extended forward, and the girl smiled and took his hand, and Naruto pulled her up and sat her behind her where she wrapped her arms around his waist and got ready for their take off;

"Hold on tight, k," instructed Naruto to which he felt a nod of her head as she rested her head on his back as she bit her lip,

"Naruto," she said softly,

"Yeah?"

"Thank you," she replied, which left Naruto slightly confused;

"For?"

"For trusting in me with bits about your past," she said as she lifted her head from his back, "Before, I didn't know what to think of you, except that you were also suffering from losing your loved ones, but when I saw you kill those fire soldiers without much remorse, it made me believe you had become the same monster that had raged war for the past century, then the words you told my brother, they held so much compassion and sadness, made me realized you were just a man that had suffered so much by this chaos and wanted to spare others from the burden."

Naruto just stayed quiet as he listened to her words, then let out a sigh;

"Katara –" began Naruto, but stopped when he heard the sound of screeching machinery not far ahead, dismounting the dragon, Naruto followed the sound and peered his head over the top of the rocks and gasps when he saw machine like tanks with the insignia of fire heading up north. Slowly backing away, Naruto ran back towards Shen Lung and pulled out the map he had with him;

"What's going on Naruto?" asked Katara

"An armada of Fire Nation tanks are heading up North, but the only thing that's located there is the Northern Air Temple, but it doesn't make sense, since all the air-benders were killed a hundred years ago," summarized Naruto, making Katara gasp;

"Aang!" shouted Katara, gaining the blonds attention;

"Aang might be there," she clarified

Mounting his dragon once again, the blond grabbed a hold of the handle of his saddle;

"Hold on Katara, Shen Lung, time to hit the skies," said Naruto holding on as Shen Lung let out a loud roar and ran off the small hill it rested and spread its wings as it took off, flying North towards Aang could be located.

- \ I / -

Meanwhile, long before Naruto and Katara took course towards the Northern Temple, Aang and Sokka made a stop as they listened to a storyteller who told a tale of people who travel in the air. According to the story, these people reside at the Northern Air Temple, giving Aang hopes that there might be some air nomad survivals. They both decided to check it out, but the young Avatar gets disappointed to just see normal people gliding in the air and gets saddened even more once he noticed the dramatic changes the Northern Air Temple had gone through since the time when he last visited over 100 years ago, as its current residents have remodeled it extensively for their everyday lives. Teo, a young paraplegic, shows Aang a part of the temple that hadn't been touched, and asks the air bender if he could open it, but Aang declines as it the last piece of the temple that remained the same. Later on, Teo manages to convince Aang to open the door, but both are shocked to find the room stored with dozens of inventions with Fire Nation insignias on them. The Mechanist, Teo's father, confesses to aiding the Fire Nation with building weapon, for if refused, they would destroy them. Refused they did when the Fire Nation came to collect the professor's latest weapon, but the consequences were dire as they were outnumber and out powered, but they still refused to give up as they made a plan b using the war balloon that originally was created for the Fire Nation since they hadn't had control of the skies yet. Slowly getting pushed back, Aang made a strong hold as he went into the battle field to stop the tanks that had arrived, but he couldn't hold them for long as they began to attack him and continue their march, until the cavalry had arrived;

- / I \ -

Appa had come to its master rescue as he rammed into two charging tanks and pushed them back as they flipped into the snow, but it didn't do much as the cockpit simply turned and continued their way towards the temple while some were attacking the avatar who continued to parry every fire strike sent at him, then suddenly, a shadow hovered above him as it passed followed by a loud roar, gaining the young boy's and everyone's attention as they looked up towards the sun and saw a dark red dragon flying down towards them with its maws open, breathing out large embers directly at the tanks, completely decimating them as they stood no chance from the impact as it landed on its hind legs, fully standing as it shocked everyone when it swung its tail to the side and made two earth shoot out from underneath the tanks, piercing them dead center and then it turned and breathed a long stream of fire at the charging soldiers, scorching them alive as the screams echoed through the mountain while Aang watched in horror at the chaos the dragon was unleashing as it continued to trash the tanks by grabbing a hold one and used it as a battle club to smash the other tanks till threw it away and landed on all fours, letting out a loud, deafening roar;

"AANG!"

Then he heard his name being shout and gasped in shock when he saw Katara dismounted herself of the back of the beast and ran up towards him and hugged him, which Aang return with much enthusiasm;

"Katara, where have you been?" asked Aang as he got out of the hug

"Naruto got injured and I had to nurse him back to health and we came here as soon as possible when we summarize the tanks were heading here," replied the girl

Then the sound of metal being cut reached their ears and looked up ahead, not believing their eyes as they saw their blond friend cutting through the tanks as if they were made out of butter while dodging fire blast and countering attack by throwing kunais with deadly accuracy as he killed every fire-bender on every tank. One of the tanks launched its chain hook towards Naruto, but he dodged it by dashing to the side as he ran towards the tank with his sword being held down almost close to the ground as it made sparks when it came in contact with some of the rocks and once he was in close quarters, Naruto grabbed the hilt with both hands and slashed upward as he skidded across and away from the tank, cutting the tank in half as it split in two when the two halves fell.

"I hate to interrupt the happy reunion, but we need to get out of here," suggested the blond a he walked towards Aang and Katara, who just nodded their heads and mounted Appa, taking off as they left Naruto behind and headed towards the temple;

The blond simply looked toward his dragon and placed his fingers inside his mouth, sounding a whistle to catch Shen's who quickly went to its master's side and allowed Naruto to mount him to follow after Aang. Once it landed next to Appa, the town folk that resided on the temple backed away in fright when they saw the dragon, for they knew that dragons were extinct but also knew they were extremely dangerous, but to their surprise, a strange man dismounted the beast and assured them that he meant no harm.

"Wow! A real live dragon!" exclaimed Teo as he rolled closer towards the two, then introduced himself, "I'm Teo," and extended his hand

"Naruto Namikaze, nice to meet you Teo," said the blond while shaking hands with the kid, gaining a serious look on his face "What's the situation?"

"The Fire Nation wants to bring the place to the ground since my father and the Avatar refused to hand over my father's latest weapon, and we have been using everything we have to attack but we ran out of ammunition and we don't know where Sokka and my father are since they said they were going to use the weapon against them," said Teo

"Well looks like we bought us some time, since we did manage to wreck some of the tanks," claimed Naruto as he turned and looked at the destruction he and his dragon caused, shocking Teo once he took a peek over the edge, "But I'm curious, what kind of weapon did your father create?"

And his answered came when a giant red blimp with the Fire insignia came from behind the temple and to their surprise, the soldiers weren't shooting at it to bring it down;

"Why aren't they firing at the blimp" asked Aang

"Because they believe that it's on their side, hence the insignia on the balloon," replied Naruto as he pointed with his hand

"Then they won't see the attack coming!" cheered Katara as they all saw Sokka release the slime bomb onto the unsuspecting fire soldiers, stopping them completely, until they notice Sokka threw over board the coal machine that powered the blimp into the crater below them,

"Now what would he do that?" muttered the blond till his eyes widen in realization and turned towards the others, "Everyone! Get back!"

For not as soon as he said those words, a loud explosion occurred, blowing most of the mountain away but leaving enough for the temple to still stand with a large cloud of smoke surrounding it but it quickly was blown away, revealing the Fire Nation retreating from the way they came, causing everyone to cheer but stopped once they saw the blimp falling down at rapid pace;

"Shen, go get them!" ordered the blond and obeyed it did as it chased after them and snatched them from the carrier, flying back towards the temple where everyone cheered on their victory.

Later that day during the sunset, everyone was gathered outside at the entrance of the temple;

"You know what, I'm really glad you guys all live here," said Aang as he reached for a small funny looking crab, "I realized, maybe you weren't born here, but you guys found a place to call home and protect one another."

"That means a lot, coming from you Aang," said Teo

"You were right about air power Aang, as long as we got the skies, we will have the Fire Nation on the run," declared Sokka as everyone cheered, however, two people weren't so sure about that;

"Something tells me . . . that this victory may have costs us more than we can imagine in the oncoming battles," thought the blond as he and the professor looked into the horizon.

- \ I / -

Far away from the temple, a group of fire-benders were gathered as they waited for the balloon to be filled up with hot air, with its captain pleased to have gained such a weapon after their loss;

"This defeat . . . is the gateway to many victories," commented the captain as he saw the blimp completely filled with the fire insignia standing out . . .

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. . . . . And cut!

A/N: I know its inaccurate as to what I put in the wanted poster sign, but I did my best considering that the Deserter looks to be close to 60 or 70 on the series and the Admiral to be about mid 40's

Also, on another comment, I know I have put down some bits here and there about Naruto's past, but it made the effect that I needed for the interaction between Katara and Naruto., in my believe. As for the dragon, I wanted to make it different from the rest of them, and with the help of another author, he seem to believe the idea was great, so I made the beast able to bend not one, but two elements, which are pretty noticeable as to which elements as you read throughout the end of the chapter.

Here' a link to the picture of the dragon that I got the idea from, and I'll say it now, I didn't create it, but I thank my brother for finding the picture by accident, which it looks very bad ass in my opinion, just take of the flame at the tail and the small armor it has;

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However, I feel like this is not best my chapter compared to the last two, but I'll let you readers decide and hopefully it's well liked as well.


	9. Book I Chapter 7, pt 1

I know it was a while for the update, but I was in a shitty mood after I had read what the author of "Avatar Naruto" had to say about only 3 readers reviewing his work, and that made me think since I understand his point of view since through the reviews that's how we, the writers, know if we are going through the right path on the story and whether or not we have to make corrections to our stories, which brings me to another topic, that and add to the fact that I've been on the hospital due to back injuries and have been going to therapy ever since;

To the author that wrote about the missing plot between the four sages and Sasuke, I left that out on purpose so I can present it later on in the story.

And so, without further adieu, sit back and read on the final chapter of book one!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Avatar: TLAB, and the song "Imagine"

Avatar timeline:

Episode "The Waterbending Master" will be Naruto modified

Episode "The Siege of the North, Pt. 1 will be Naruto modified

Episode "The Siege of the North, Pt. 2 will be Naruto modified

And now . . . On with the show!

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_Water_

_Earth_

_Fire_

_Air_

_Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony,_

_Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked,_

_Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them,_

_But when the world needed him most, he vanished._

_One hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, _

_An air-bender named Aang, _

_But unknown to us, the avatar of legend, a man named Naruto had reawakened._

_And although Aang's air-bending skills are amazing and Naruto may be the crimson avatar, they both have a lot to learn before they're ready to save anyone._

_But . . ._

_I believe Aang and Naruto can save the world._

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Previously on Avatar of the Four Dragons:

_Red light shot towards the skies, forcefully dispersing the pillar of fire as it revealed Naruto, his eyes still closed, unharmed and floating a good fifteen feet of the ground as the tattoos had now become fully visible, a double headed arrow on his chest with two small lines going downward on the sides of his pectorals, a circle on each shoulder with scoop underneath it, a spiral tattoo on each forearm, starting from his wrist to halfway up his forearm, all glowing a bright crimson_

- / . \ -

"_Aang, the person from your vision is a man whose power overshadows all of the Avatars combined," revealed Roku, causing Aang's eyes to widen in shock_

- \ . / -

"_You can't possibly be saying that there could be two Avatars, are you?" asked an incredulous Katara_

- / . \ -

_"Aang . . . beware of the man with the crimson eyes with black tomoes in them."_

- \ . / -

"_After ten thousand years, you're still as powerful, Namikaze,__" thought the man in silence_

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Calm Before the Storm;

Wrath of the Awakened Dragon, pt. 1

-\ II /-

\ . /

Naruto was seen relaxing on Appa's tail, enjoying the soft feeling he felt as he rest on the bison's fur as they flew around the ice bergs on their search for the Northern Water Tribe, but so far, they didn't had any luck;

"_Ahh this feels good so peaceful and tranquil,_" thought the blond with glee as he closed his eyes and got ready to take a nap, that is until someone had to go whining and complaining;

"Not that I'm one to complain but can't Appa fly any higher?" whined Sokka as he mope around while hanging half body over the saddle, annoying the young Avatar and the their blond friend;

"So much for peace and tranquility," muttered Naruto as growled while sitting up so he could get up and join the rest of the teens in the saddle as he sat next to a laying Katara

"I have an idea, why don't we all climb on _your_ back and fly to the North Pole!" retorted Aang crankily as he pointed his finger towards Sokka, making the older boy glare back;

"I'd love to! Climb aboard everybody, Sokka's ready for takeoff," The older boy snarked as he pointed to his back and wiggled his ass around, only to have Momo sit on him.

"Both of you relax, we're all just a little tired and cranky because we've been flying for two days straight," Katara said as she got on her knees and tried to calm both of them down, but saw that they both were ignoring her. Seeing that her words were having no effect, she turned towards the calmest of the group;

"I would appreciate if you helped me out," remarked Katara as she saw the blond with his arms over the saddle and his head leaned back;

"Just throw them overboard, the water will cool them off," was the lazily reply from Nartuo

"And how is it that you're flying with us instead of your dragon!" Suddenly remarked Sokka as he pointed an accusing finger at Naruto, who just lifted his head and raised an eyebrow lazily;

"For one, Shen is out hunting for food, he came find me anywhere I go, and two, it's better to travel with you guys since I have the company of a lovely lady," said Naruto as he teased Sokka in the end by hitting on Katara by wrapping an arm around her shoulders, making her blush lightly while Aang glare at the blond with jealousy in his eyes, but neither one of them noticed a stream of ice heading towards their direction as it formed an ice berg as it reached up, the intention quite clear, luckily though, Aang quickly got a hold of the rails and managed to steer Appa to the side, making everyone on the saddle to grab a hold so they weren't thrown off. Katara, however, was barely hanging on with one hand and with another jerk made by the flying bison as he tried to dodge another attack only to be nicked on one of its paw, spiraling out of control, making her release of her hold as she felt herself being thrown off, until suddenly, she felt someone reaching out and wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her close towards the saddle, allowing her to grip her arms tightly around the waist of the person that save her, only to look up and let out a gasp of surprise to find that it was Naruto that had saved her again as he held firmly on the rail of the saddle with one hand;

"Don't worry, I got you," assured the blond as he held on while holding her close with his arm around her waist and braised them both for impact as they crashed into the water with a loud splash;

"Are you alright?" asked the blond softly as he looked down at her, only to feel a nod in response on his chest from the girl

"Yea, thank you Naruto," whispered Katara softly as she slowly detached herself from, only to feel cold once again when she separated herself from him, then she stared at him as he got up and saw him reached for his sword with Sokka following suit as he reached for his boomerang only to be shook once more as they saw ice forming around Appa, freezing him in place with no chance to jump into the skies;

"Looks like we have a welcoming committee," sarcastically said Naruto as he saw a fleet of water tribe members floating towards them, causing Katara to jump to her feet in excitement;

"They are water-benders! We found the tribe!" she exclaimed in excitement as they surrounded them

- / | \ -

At another part of the world, a port was occupied with Fire Nation soldiers, as they camped while their higher ups held a meeting inside a large tent, with Admiral Zhao in the lead;

"The Avatar is heading north, towards the Northern Water Tribe," exclaimed the admiral as he faced the map till he turned towards the other captains in the meeting, "The Avatar needs to master water-bending, so he will look for a teacher there."

Then an elder man with a long beard shouted;

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go get him!"

"Patience Capt. Lee," instructed Zhao passively as he stared sternly at the captain, "This isn't some little earth village that we can just march into. The water tribe is a great nation," lectured the Admiral as he walked around the captains, "There's a reason as to why they have survived a hundred years of war, the frozen thundra is treacherous and the landscape itself is an icy fortress," by then he had reached the other side of the table and placed his hands on top of it as he stared at each and everyone gathered around it, "We'll need a massive invasion force."

"But Admiral Zhao, what about the rumors of the Crimson Avatar?" question another captain

"What about them?" asked the Admiral as he narrowed his eyes at the captain

"The people are talking that he is real and far more powerful than the current Avatar," informed the captain, "If the rumors are true and he were to aid the Northern Tribe, we would suffer a deathly blow."

"I assure you captain, with the fire power we will have at our disposal, even this so called Avatar of Four Dragons won't stand a chance against us," reassured the Admiral, however, one of the captains wasn't convinced;

"Don't coy with us Zhao!" accused another captain, who looked far older than Zhao, "I know what happened to the fleet you sent to the Southern Tribe a couple of months ago, they were destroyed by the Avatar himself, leaving no survivors and I also happen to know to the current incident that occurred at the Puhai Stronghold. Even with the aid of the Yu Yan archers, he managed to free the current Avatar and slip out of your fingers, leaving you with heavy casualties in the end. So how do you expect us to believe your word that the Crimson Avatar won't be hindrance on our plan?"

By now, all eyes were on Zhao, who stood quietly with a dark look in his eye, causing some of the captains to get nervous as he spoke;

"Believe me when I say this gentleman . . . If he decides to intervene in our conquest," he began as he got off the table, "Avatar of legend or not, he will fall with the rest of the Northern Tribe."

- \ | / -

Meanwhile, back the gang, they were being escorted by the water-benders they had encountered earlier towards the Northern Tribe and along the distance, a massive wall made out of ice came into view as they kept getting closer and closer;

"There it is!" exclaimed Aang as he pointed

"The Northern Water Tribe," muttered Katara as she stared in amazement

"We finally made it," muttered Sokka as if he were still dreaming

Then the group watched as some of the water benders melted a part of the wall to create a pathway for them to enter. One of them gesture them to enter with a smile, and entered they did as they came to a dead end, only to be surprised by the amount of water-benders the tribe contained as they melted parts of the wall along with another wall so they could rise to higher levels of the stream and continue on their way into the heart of the city;

"I can't believe how many water-benders live up here," exclaimed Katara in awe

"Finding yourself a teacher won't a problem now," pointed out the blond with a small grin on his face

They followed another escort that was waiting for them and showed them around the city as they venture towards the town hall, while Aang simply waved at everyone who had gathered around to see who was the person that had intrude into their city, while Naruto simply was mesmerized by the architecture of the city itself, some of it looking very similar to that of Konoha;

"_What a beautiful place. . ._ "thought Naruto the blond as he looked around, feeling right at home for some reason as he noticed some of its people staring at him while the children just waved at him, in innocence with a smile on their faces, making Naruto to smile softly and wave back

Meanwhile, Sokka was also entrance by the beauty of the city, till he caught sight of a canoe heading straight in their direction, but what really caught his attention was the girl that was inside the canoe, adorning a purple coat with her white hair being in two pigtails down by either side of her face, and two giant loops being held by a piece on top of her head, causing the young warrior to blush by her beauty;

"This place I beautiful," said Katara

"Yea she sure is," replied Sokka dreamingly with Naruto being the only one to have heard him and glanced back to what he was staring at and gained a smirk when he caught sight of the white haired girl;

"_Ah love at first sight,_" thought Naruto with a small smile

After floating through the city, they had reached the Tribe's main tower, walking up the stairs as they went to meet up with the chief of the village, but Naruto came to a stop as he looked up to the sky, making the rest of the group stop as well;

"Something wrong?" asked the air-bender, but only got a grin in response;

"No, nothing, just Shen finally found us," was the reply as a loud roar was heard, causing the people to panic and scream in fright at the sight of the dragon. Many water-benders and soldiers rushed to fight off the beast, but when they reached the floor, they stopped on their march, stupefied when they saw Katara petting the dragon, as said beast was laying while the beast nuzzled its head gently against the girl, growling softly in content as it made her giggle while Naruto turned towards the soldiers;

"He is with me and as you can see, he is harmless unless provoked, so please, refrain from attacking him," warned the blonde as he walked up the stairs after Aang and Sokka, Katara walking next to him with Appa and Shen walking after them.

- / | \ -

Night had fallen and on the prince's ship, Iroh was having a musical night with the rest of the ship's crew which ended abruptly once Zhao came aboard, only to be the bearer of bad news to Prince Zuko;

Zuko was sitting on his bed, relaxing and contemplating on what action to take on his capture of the Avatar, until he heard a knock coming from his door;

"For the last time uncle, I'm not playing the sungi horn," growled Zuko without turning his head, that is, until he heard his door being opened with Iroh coming in looking somber;

"No, it's about our plans. There's a bit of a problem," informed the former general as he allowed the Admiral inside the room;

"I'm taking your crew," said the Admiral, causing Zuko to get up from his bed in anger;

"WHAT!"

"I've recruited them for a little expedition to the North Pole," turning towards his uncle for confirmation;

"Uncle, is this true?"

"I'm afraid so, he's taken everyone," told Iroh as he began to sob, "even the cook."

"I'm sorry you won't be there to watch me capture the Avatar, but I can't have you getting in my way again," said Zhao without a hint of sincerity as he passively stared down at the teen as he watched Zuko try to attack him in rage only to be restrained by his uncle. Suddenly, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, and walked towards the wall to inspect the item only to stop, rooted on his feet when he saw the broad swords, recognizing them when he had flashbacks on his mind of the blue spirit when he broke inside the fortress and freed the Avatar, to later on being helped by the blonde Avatar. Reaching for one of the swords, he twisted his hand with the blade in hand as he inspects it, causing Zuko to tense up;

"I didn't know you were skilled with broadswords, Prince Zuko," admitted the Admiral, watching the prince's reaction out of the corner of his eye, watching as the banished teen stayed perfectly clam;

"I'm not, they're antiques, just decorative," was the banished teen's reply. Turning towards the former General, "General Iroh, have you heard of two individuals, the Crimson Avatar and the Blue Spirit?"

"Just rumors, but I firmly believe that neither one of them are real," replied Iroh

"Oh they're both real general, and both are enemies to the Fire Nation" said Zhao as he handed the sword to Iroh, "and I have a feeling that justice is going to catch up to both them very shortly," claimed the Admiral as he walked towards the door and stopped, "General Iroh, the offer to join my mission still stands, if you changed your mind."

And with that, the Admiral closed the door as he walked out of the room, with a dark glint in his eyes.

- \ | / -

Back at the North Pole, a banquet was being held in honor of the Avatar and the arrival of their sister tribe members;

Servants were seen carrying food as they walked inside the chamber, serving the people and the high chief, who had Naruto and Aang sitting on his left while Katara and Sokka sat on right. Even Appa was served while Shen was getting annoyed by the servants as they were too scared to approach him, causing the beast to growl in frustration till he launched himself towards the cart carrying meat, scaring the servants shitless as they scurried back, causing the blond to laugh out loud while Aang and Katara just smiled nervously at the chief. Shaking his head, Chief Arnook got up and gained the attention of the people when he raised his hands;

"Tonight . . . . we are gathered here to celebrate my daughter's sixteenth birthday," announced Chief Arnook as he gestured behind him, making Naruto and the Gaang turn around only for Sokka and Nauto to see the same white haired girl that they both had seen earlier in the city, "Princess Yue is now a marrying age."

The identified princess nodded at her father, "Thank you father may the great ocean and moon spirits watch over us in these troubled times," and took her seat next to Sokka. The High Chief then gesture towards the crowd to quiet down;

"Now, also tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brother and sister from the Southern Water Tribe," gesturing towards the siblings that sat on his right, "And they have brought someone very special, someone who was led to believe to have disappeared from the world on till now," then he gestured towards Aang, "The Avatar."

The crowd began to cheer even louder as their hope was renewed, however, a voice from the shadows shot out, causing everyone to go deadly silent;

"The Avatar will fail to fulfill his duty, just as the Avatar before him failed his when Roku didn't eliminate the catalyst that brought this war upon us," said a blue robed figure with insignia of water sage on his back walked out behind a pillar, his face covered by the shadows of his hood

"Who are you?" demanded the High Chief Arnook as his water-benders went into motion to protect their leader and the Avatar as they bended the water into ice shards, but the robed figured simply lazily lifted his left leg in front of him as he supported his body weight on his right, his hands moving in a circular motion till he slowly made a fist and slammed it onto his right palm in front of him just as he brought his leg down with a stomp, using the same water against the water benders as it melted into liquid again and fell on them and freezing them in thick blocks of ice, making everyone go wide eyed at the level of skill;

However, Naruto's eyes were the ones that held the most shock;

"_It can't be! There's only one person that can control the water like that,_" thought the blonde avatar;

"I did not come here to fight Chief Arnook, but to simply tell you that he has awakened," said the robed figure, causing Arnook's eyes to widen at this revelation

Aang was about to jump at the figure but was held back, turning to his side in anger only to get a surprise when he found that he was being firmly held in his place by Naruto;

"What are you doing? Let me go!" harshly whispered Aang but quiet down when the blonde turned towards with a look that scared him;

"You have no chance of defeating him, so shut up and listen," whispered Naruto back and turned his sights back towards the robed person

"I see . . . "was all the High Chief said as he sat back down with his legs crossed, "but how do I know what you say is true?" asked Arnook only for the person to slowly raise his hand up, making everyone look up to see what was he pointing at, finding the carving of a dragon with its body shaped in a spiral with a crystal orb being held in its jaws, giving a soft red glow as it caused some to be hypnotized by its beauty; (**A/N**: picture the dragon statue in the ceiling that held the dragon scroll in Kung Fu Panda)

"This orb along with another three were made by the first incarnation of the avatar and given to each sacred temple of the first Sages taught by him, as a way to know when the next reincarnation would be born . . . . or to foretell of his return to the world as the orb glowed red," explained the person

"Who's return?" asked Katara

"The return of the Crimson Avatar."

At this, Aang's eyes widen, for he remembered the conversation he had with Avatar Roku at the Fire Temple, his words echoing in his mind while everyone inside the room murmured and whispered around, not believing that there were two Avatars;

"You mean that there are two Avatars?" exclaimed a shocked princess, only for the robed entity to nod in affirmative

"_Sokka's was right! There are two Avatars!_" thought Katara in disbelief

"But if he has reawakened, why hasn't he stopped the war already? Too many people are dying while he bides his time!"Shouted Sokka

"Despite of the power he posses, he still recovers from his slumber, for if he were to fight the Fire Nation at his current level, even he will be overwhelmed and everything would be lost," replied back the unknown entity

"Can you tell us who he is?" asked Katara, but the entity only shook his head slowly;

"I cannot say, for I'm prohibited to do so."

"Why not!" almost shouted Katara, but got no answer from the person

"My time is up, though be warned, for the tides have hanged and soon, war shall come to your door steps, and the dragon will rise once again to restore the balance that should have been kept, as it was the duty that was charged to you young Avatar" were the last words the entity said as he slowly began to turn into water and slowly dispersed into the floor.

Naruto simply stared where the entity stood, only to look at his right hand when he felt something being inscribed under his arm, lifting it up, he saw an inscription;

_**Meet me at the Spirit Oasis that is hidden behind the tower**_

After reading the note, Naruto simply waved his arm on top of the message and made it disappear, watching as Chief Arnook order for the festivities to continue as he presented Master Pakku with two of his students perform a water-bending show, quickly taking the recent event of everyone's minds as they became to entranced with the show as they applauded their skill. Scooting closer to Aang, he whispered to the young lad;

"Aang, tell the others that I've headed towards the room to rest, I'm still feeling drained from the long trip," to which he got a rapid nod from the young air bender, giving him a chance to spend time with Katara as the blonde got up and walked out of the room, making sure no one was around in the hallway, he sprinted quietly out of the tower through the window, quietly landing on the snow as he looked around for an entrance;

"_I wonder how can there be an Oasis here with this kind of freezing temperature,_" thought the blonde as he walked forward till he saw a circular wooden door. Curious, he slowly walked towards it till he stood in front of it and placed his hand over the door;

"_Hmm . . . I feel a great spiritual essence on the other side of this door,_" thought Naruto. Making his mind up, he pulled the door open and walked inside, becoming completely stunned when he saw a patch of land, covered in grass with a little forest growing behind a small pond, mesmerized at the beauty that lay before his eyes;

"How is this possible?" muttered the blond as he walked on top of the water towards the small island, where he kneeled down and touched the grass, but suddenly a small smirk appeared on his face as he got up to his feet and turned around to face the same robed entity that had crashed the festivities earlier, standing on top of the lake as he faced off against Naruto;

"That was quite a display of water-bending you displayed back there," praised Naruto, "it seems with my absence, you managed to grow into a powerful bender, I'm proud of you . . . . . Inari."

The robed figure slowly reached for his hood and pulled it off, revealing a wrinkled face with a hair style like Tazuna's except white with a matching goatee, if Naruto didn't know better, he would have believe that it was the old drunk himself standing in front of him due to the similarities;

"It's good to see you again Master," replied Inari with a raspy voice full of wisdom, a small smile adorning his face.

"A tad bit strange, but interesting nonetheless, as to how you became the spirit of the ocean," exclaimed the blonde avatar with humor, making the water sage chuckle; "I may be a spirit, but am not immortal, for I gave my immortality to be with the one I love."

"And who would that be?" asked Naruto, interested in his former student's love interest

"Why it was none other than the spirit of the moon herself, Tsukuyomi, or also known as Tui in the culture of the Water Tribes," answered Inari calmly, making Naruto to go eye wide, "What! How?"

Inari just shrugged his shoulders as he answered, "I simply fought her after claiming that I would take her and have her by my side, and defeated her."

"You used the oldest trick of the book, didn't you, deception," smirked the blond as he spoke

"Well, I had her underestimate me, since she didn't expect a mere mortal being able to have absolute control over the waters," explained Naruto's former student with a slight shrug, "That, and I was persistent on courting her every time I went to her temple I had stumbled across by accident, only to be turned down every time I asked," smirked the aged sage

"And I take it that you taught her water-bending, considering that the people of the Northern Tribe worship her and believe that it was her that brought water-bending to the water tribes," concluded the blonde to receive a nod in response, causing Naruto to chuckle softly;

"Ironic, isn't it?" said Inari with a small grin on his face, till his features suddenly changed, becoming serious all of a sudden, "We have lots to discuss."

"Yes we do," replies Naruto, with a look that matched the aged sage, his eyes hardening, "And you can start by explaining to me what happened after my confrontation with Sasuke at the Valley of the End and how the hell is he still alive after ten thousand years!"

Taking a deep breath, Inari just closed his eyes as he let out a tired sigh and looked up towards the sky, looking directly at the moon; "Moegi, Konohamaru, Udon and I confronted the Uchiha traitor after a giant explosion had occurred at the mouth of the Valley. When we got there, everything was destroyed yet somehow; he had managed to survive, barely of course. Despite his weakened state, he bragged how he was stronger than you since he proclaimed to have killed you, and us, not being able to sense your presence anywhere, we believed him and in our grief at the outcome, I froze him alive and Udon sent his icy tomb to the depths of the valley," explained the water sage while the blonde quietly listened to his former student's tale;

"Why your four didn't just kill him instead of leaving him freeze to death?" asked the blonde Avatar

"We felt that death was a lesser punishment for him and it would be preferable to let him live inside an icy prison that he could not escape, left to be forgotten," responded Inari, "but it seems that it didn't turn out quite as we had hoped."

"Yes it didn't! Due to the inability to kill him, you four left a major threat live only for him to escape one day to cause destruction and bloodshed," retorted Naruto, causing Inari to go quiet at his master's anger, "Now this world is paying for our mistakes."

Both men stayed quiet after the blonde's rant;

"Then you already made up your mind as to what needs to be done?" asked the water sage

"Yes, I will kill him," responded Naruto in a cold voice before he turned towards the door and began to slowly walk towards, then stopped suddenly without turning back, as if asking an unasked question;

"Ten-ten never once blamed you for the choice you had to make, Naruto," said Inari as he stared at the back of his former master, watching as his shoulders slowly slumped, "She loved you unconditionally. She proved it to you when she stayed by your side when everyone was doubtful of you when you revealed how you gained your bending abilities, she stayed by your side through thick and thin, going as far as supporting your decision to confront the Uchiha."

"Did she find happiness after my . . . death?" asked the blonde quietly as he turned back, with eyes filled with grief and pain

Shaking his head, Inari replied, "She never married after your disappearance. She loved to you too much, living her life happily as much as she could while raising your son."

Looking up in the sky, he murmured;

"My son . . . . "

Nodding his head, the former sage then looked up to the sky as well and noticed that it was close to sunrise;

"It's time you head back, and prepare for what it is to come," said the sage, turning his sights back on his former master, "The world needs you once again, for only you have a chance of defeating Sasuke and restoring order on this world."

Nodding his head, the blonde headed towards the door and opened it slightly, making sure no one was outside, he opened it completely and before he took his step, Inari said one more piece;

"Ten-ten would have wanted you to live your life and find happiness, Naruto, instead of pinning yourself to her memory."

Naruto didn't say anything or turned around to respond as he just stood there, unmoving, until he just walked out of the Oasis and headed towards the shed, to get some rest as he lay on top of Appa's tail and closed his eyes, letting sleep claim him as he comfortable on the creature's fur and drifted into darkness, with the image of his weapon mistress, smiling down at him.

- / . \ -

Morning had arrived, and it wasn't a very good morning for Katara, for she had woken up excitedly at the fact that she was going to finally begin to learn water-bending along with Aang, who had met the Master Pakku the previous night after the festivities were over, only for her mood to turn sour once that the water-bending master refused to teach her, simply for being a woman. That didn't sit well with either one of the two, and Aang threw a tantrum by refusing to learn from Master Pakku if he didn't teach his friend, but Katara quickly changed his mind to not forsake his training because of her and left towards the healing huts to learn the healing arts, grumbling in displeasure at her misfortune, only to stop once she had spotted Naruto sleeping on Appa's tail inside the she where both Appa and Shen resided. Smiling a bit brightly, she slowly walked towards the shed as she approached the sleeping blonde, getting a closer look as she him sleep with his arms behind his head, using them as pillows as he snored quietly, causing her to giggle when she heard him mumble about food.

Naruto began to stir once he heard the giggles, and lazily, he sat up as he stretched his limbs, only to end up scratching his head with a sleepy look on his eyes;

"Morning sleepy head," heard someone say, and turned to the source of the voice, only to find Katara standing over him with a smile on her face. Grinning shamelessly, he replied;

"Morning, aren't you a little early to be awake?"

Seeing her smile falter a bit, he grew a bit concern; "What's wrong?"

Sitting down next to Naruto, Katara brought her legs close to her chest;

"I went with Aang to go meet Master Pakku, Aang's new water-bending teacher," she bagan, which caused confusion in the blonde, "But that's great, that means that you can now learn water-bending with Aang," Katara then let out a sigh, making Naruto deduced something happened, "But he refused to teach you didn't he," he stated, which he got a nod in response;

"All because I'm a girl," at her response, Naruto just narrowed his eyes, "You're kidding right?"

Katara just shook her head, "No, Master Pakku said that women are forbidden to use their water-bending to fight, instead they use their water-bending to heal."

"Learning how to heal is not that bad Katara, for it wasn't for you, I may had been injured even worse when that arrow struck me," reasoned the blonde, which in turn got a skeptical look from the young girl;

"Look, what I'm trying to say is, never disregard anything that is presented to you, take in everything that comes in your way, learn from it, take in what is useful and discard the rest, and you'll develop yourself not only as a better person, but also as a better fighter," instructed Naruto as he hesitantly placed a hand on the girls shoulder

"_What is wrong with me? Why do I feel slightly nervous around her?_" pondered the blonde avatar in his mind while he maintained eye contact with Katara, but filed it for later as he stood up and helped the young girl up to her feet;

"Well then, you ready to go?"

"Go where?" asked Katara confused, making Naruto chuckle;

"To your healing sessions, I'm gonna walk you there before I go look for your flamboyant brother for some training," replied the blonde avatar, making the young girl blush lightly as she mock glared at the blonde for the joke he made at her brother;

"What? It's so boring around here, there's nothing to do except keeping these two company," pouted Naruto as he crossed his arms, causing Katara to giggle while both animals glared at the blonde before they both began walking towards the building, both enjoying each other's company as they walked into the city, striding around until they reached Katara's destination, both standing at the doorway of the entrance as they just stood there, with Katara hiding her hands behind her back as she leaned back against the frame;

"Here we are," said Naruto softly as he stared at her eyes once again

"That we are," replied Katara back, staring back, getting lost into those deep sea blue eyes of Naruto's

"_This is wrong . . . _"suddenly thought Naruto, as his conscience drifted towards his deceased wife, feeling as if he was betraying her and quickly broke their gaze as he turn his head to the side, confusing and concerning the young girl, "I have to go, I'll see you later," and without another word he jumped on top of the building and sprinted away, leaving a sadden girl as she watched him leave before she walked inside and began learning about the healing arts.

In another part of the town, Sokka had bumped into the Princess, as she was taking a trek on her canoe throughout the city, making conversation of the previous night's festivities, as well as asking her if they could meet up, to which the princess had agreed upon on a bridge later at night.

Meanwhile, back with Katara, as the lesson let out and some of the others helped carry out the fake human body used as an aide for teaching Katara walked over to Yagoda and thanked her for the lesson.

"He's one lucky boy," said Yagoda out of the blue as she leaned forwards and looked at Katara's necklace.

"What?" Katara asked.

"Your betrothal necklace, you're getting married with that weird haired color boy, aren't you?" Yagoda said, causing Katara to blush slightly, but recomposed herself

"No, I'm not ready for that yet. My grandmother passed this down to my mother and my mother passed it down to me." Katara said as she looked at her necklace, and fondled it tenderly.

At a closer inspection, Yagoda gasped in surprise;

"I recognize this carving. I don't know why I didn't see it earlier. You're the spitting image of Kana!" said Yagoda.

"Wait, how do you know my Gran-Gran's name?" Katara asked as she backed away.

"When I was about your age I was friends with Kana. She was born here, in the Northern Tribe." Yagoda explained.

"She never told me," Katara said softly to herself.

"Your grandmother had an arranged marriage with a young water-bender. He carved that necklace for her," Katara looked down before she asked;

"If Gran-Gran was engaged, why did she leave?"

"I don't know; it's always been a mystery to me. She left without saying goodbye." Yagoda said sadly.

- \ | / -

Iroh bid the crew good luck and tried to get Zuko off the ship to interrupt his sulking. But as he walked away, the pirated that were hired by Zhao closed in on the ship and rigged it to blow with blasting jelly. But one of the pirates made a handle squeak which alerted Zuko to another's presence on his ship. As he wandered the halls, in a ready stance, he made it to the helm when he saw the pirates' parrot-lizard fly by which alerted him too late that something was seriously wrong just before the ship blew.

"AHHHHH!"

Iroh heard the explosion and saw the smoke.

"ZUKO!" he said worried before he raced back to the ship only to see a burning wreck in its place.

"Zuko." He said sadly and softly as he closed his eyes, crying at the loss of a person that was a son to him.

- / | \ -

Back at the Tribe, night time had fallen over the city, and Sokka excitedly ran towards the pot where he and Princess Yue were suppose to meet, only to turn sour as the Princess told Sokka that she made a mistake agreeing to their meeting and ran without as much giving an explanation, leaving Sokka dumbfound before he got mad and threw the carving he had made for the Princess into the water canals of the city.

Putting his hands inside his pockets, he walked depressingly back to the building, where he and the others were given by Chief Arnook for their stay in the Northern Tribe.

Walking in, he noticed Naruto was sitting on the far right corner, messing with some sort of musical instrument as struck some of the strings as he tried to tune it, while Aang and his sister were both getting ready to sleep, until the young Avatar spotted Sokka;

"So how was warrior training going?" Aang asked Sokka, who kicked his pack angrily in response before he dropped down on the bed made ofut of some animals skin hide.

"That bad?" Aang said.

"No, its Princess Yue, one minute she wants to go out with me the next she's telling me to get lost!" Sokka grumbled, calming down he turned towards his sister;

"How's waterbending training going?" Sokka asked, only to raise an eyebrow when he saw Katara flopped down at the same time Aang replied;

"Master Poop-head won't teach her because she's a girl."

"Why don't you just teach her Aang?" Sokka said.

"Why didn't I think of that!" exclaimed Katara as she lifted her head and stood up, "You can teach me at night whatever moves Master Pakku shows you during the day. That way you have someone to practice with and I get to learn water-bending that way everyone's happy!"

"I'm not happy." Sokka said.

"But you're never happy," Katara said as she put her hands on her hips, then looked at Aang with a smile, "Come on Aang," she told her friend, but both were stopped before they even made a step by Naruto's voice;

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Naruto as he tunes the instrument, only for Katara to look at him with in anger;

"And why not! Don't tell me that you agree with that sexist rule that women shouldn't learn water-bending!" shouted Katara

"I don't agree with it one bit, but you forget that we are hosts on this lands, and as such, we are to follow their rules and customs, even if we don't like them," replied the blonde back, now looking at the girl in the eyes, "and if you both were to be caught, the consequences could be dire, such as banishment from the Tribe and Aang would lose the opportunity to master water-bending and we would have come here for nothing."

Neither one said afterwards as they just stared at each other's eyes, until Katara turned her back towards Naruto;

"We won't get caught, come on Aang," they both walked out the door, as Naruto let out a tired sigh as he placed his instrument and leaned back against the wall, slowly drifting to sleep.

Unfortunately, they both didn't heed Naruto's words, for his warning had come true as they were caught by Master Pakku, who discharged Aang as his pupil for disobeying him and insulting his culture.

Next morning, the group were standing in front of Chief Arnook, with Yue on his right and Master Pakku on his left, both with an impassive look in their eyes as they stared at the girl before them;

"What do you expect me to do, force Master Pakku to take Aang back as his student?" he asked as if it were easier to turn back the tide without water-bending than that.

"Yes please," Katara said.

"He might if you swallow your pride and apologize," Chief Arnook said.

Katara looked back at Aang and was about to apologize until Pakku had to open his mouth;

"I'm waiting little girl," said Master Pakku snidely

"_I'm beginning to dislike this man,_" thought Naruto with irritation clearly evident in his eyes as he eyed the man. Turning his head towards Katara, he saw how hard she was clenching her fists until the dam broke and her anger was flooding out;

"NO! No way in hell I'm apologizing to a sour old bastard like you!" yelled Katara as everything around them cracked due to her inability to control her water-bending under emotional stress, making Aang and Sokka hug each other tight in fright while Naruto just stood there, unaffected by it all

"Um . . . Katara . . . "mumbled Aang as he looked at the giant pots of water crumbling down

"I'll be outside if you're man enough to fight me," she challenged him to a fight, shocking everyone in the room while Naruto just shook his head in disapproval as he and Master Pakku watched Katara walkout to prepare for the confrontation;

Aang then turned around nervously towards the chief and the members of the council that sat behind the chief;

"I'm pretty sure she didn't mean that," said Aang, only for Sokka to say otherwise;

"Yea I think she did," making Aang's eyes go thin lined till he looked around and searched for Naruto, but was nowhere to be found;

"Hey, where did Naruto go?" asked the young air-bender

Outside the building, Katara was walking down the stairs, unaware that Naruto was following right behind her;

"Katara you're biting more than you chew, you're not going to win this fight," said Naruto as he stopped walking, making Katara stop as well without turning back to face him

"I know and I don't care," replied the girl surprisingly calm

"Then why?" now the girl had turned around to face him, and gasped softly when he saw the eyes of the young girl.

Determination, courage, betrayal, anger, raged within her being as she stared back into his eyes;

"I thought, you, of all people would understand," she said in that same calm voice, "I'm not doing this for Aang, I'm doing this to prove that despite my gender, I'm equal just as him or you," then Katara turned around, trying to hide the tears that threatened to spill, "but mostly, to have you notice me as an equal, instead of some little girl that needs to be saving."

Having heard her murmur the last part, he couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu, when he was younger and wanted to gain everyone's respect, for them to stop pushing him aside, believing that he would amount to nothing, only for him to be the one to save the nations from an immortal mad man that wanted to rule the entire world, such is the irony of life;

Letting out a sigh, he slowly walked up to Katara and placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look back him over her shoulder, to see a grin on his face;

"Just remember what I taught you at the lake, be one with the water and you shall control its very essence, for even a master like Pakku will be pressed," instructed Naruto, making the girl's eyes widen before she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly;

"Thank you, Naruto," whispered Katara in his ear before she detached herself from him and pulled off her parka and shoved it at her brother, who had barely arrived and stood next to Naruto as they watched her wait for Master Pakku;

"You do know she has no chance of winning right?" asked Sokka

"I know," replied the blond back without looking at the teen

"Then why let her go through with this?" asked a confused Sokka. Naruto just simply turned towards him and gave a small smile;

"In some battles, the victor is not chosen by the last person standing, but by the one person who made an impact by a proving a point, whether it be via a loss or victory," said Naruto as he turned his sights back towards Katara, "Katara is not fighting for victory, but to prove her worth as a fighter, and that's something far more important than any victory."

Sokka and Aang just stayed quiet as he let those words sink into their minds. Once they heard the approaching footsteps, they turned back to see Master Pakku descending down the stairs, ignoring the looks that everyone gave him, while Katara glared at him and tried to goad him into a fight;

"So you decided to show up?" remarked the girl, but it was ignored as the water-bending master simply passed her by without a batting an eye, irritating Katara even further;

"Aren't you even going to fight!" she yelled at Pakku's retreating form

"Go back to the healing huts with the others where you belong," said Pakku as he kept on walking, only to stop once when Katara used a water whip and hit him on the head

"If you want to learn so bad, then study closely," remarked Pakku as the fight went underway.

Throughout the fight Naruto stood with a calculating look with his arms crossed, watching as how Katara was having a less difficult time water-bending while a few others who had gathered to witness the fight were constantly cheering loudly for the girl;

"_Well, well, looks like her control has improved quite a bit,_" thought the blonde avatar with a smile, witnessing as she easily flung the water ring that surrounded her and the master to the side with a twist of her wrist, sending the water straight at the spectators, but more directly towards Naruto, who just sidestepped out of the way and had Sokka get hit with full force as he was sent ailing back by the water with a yelp of pain;

"Sorry," said Naruto as he looked back towards Sokka beforehe turned his attention back towards the girl who had landed on top of the massive armrest of the stairs and dissolve the miniature tidal wave that was sent by Master Pakku and dashed towards him, trying to hit him with tai-jutsu, but she was flung into a pool of water. Rising out of the water, she created a small pillar of ice and sent disks of ice at the master, who deflected them with hand strikes, but one nearly sheering off his hair by mere inches and turned towards Katara with a disbelief look, causing Naruto to smirk;

"That's it Katara, show this old timer what you're made of," muttered the blonde as he watched the girl got out of the pool and sent a botched torrent of water towards Pakku, who easily countered and sent two tidal waves towards Katara, hitting her head on as they knocked her back, but held strong as she quickly got up and brought down the pots at Pakku, but the master didn't look worried as he just raised both arms up with the palms flat in the air, and dissolve the pots into dust;

"Well, I'm impressed, you're an excellent water-bender," he admitted, "But I still won't teach you."

Katara tried on last effort as she sent a wave at him, but he just made a column out of ice and dashed towards Katara and slid to the side as he sent a water strike at her, knocking the necklace off her neck and landed on top of the edge of the pool he had sent Katara into earlier and finished the fight by trapping her in multiple vertical ice spikes, making Katara unable to move no longer and therefore could no longer fight.

Everyone just gasped at how the master ended the fight while Naruto had a face made out of stone;

"This fight is over," declared the master as he began to walk away

"Come back here, I'm not finished yet," declared Katara she struggled to break free, but Master Pakku paid no heed to her as he continued to walk until he spotted the betrothal necklace he'd unknowingly knocked from Katara's neck during their duel, picking it up, he inspect it closer, gasping in surprise;

"This is my necklace," claimed the old master

"No its not, it's mine, give it back," yelled Katara

"I carved this sixty years ago for the love of my life, For Kana," He said in a voice that held such sadness as he bent the spikes back into water.

"My Gran-Gran was supposed to marry you?" said Katara in surprise looking very disheveled, her hair a complete and total mess.

"I carved this for your grandmother the day we got engaged, I thought this would be the start of a long happy life for us," Pakku said sadly, "I loved her," he admitted.

"But she didn't love you, did she? She didn't let your tribe's stupid traditions rule her life. Leaving here must have taken more strength then I can imagine," Katara said contemplatively.

At Katara's words, Yue began to cry and took off running, leaving Sokka behind, who was unsure of what to do, until he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to find that it was Naruto with a small, comprehensive smile on his face;

"Go to her, Sokka," said Naruto and Sokka took off running after her,

Sokka found out why Yue ran off crying and why she kept giving him Hot and Cold signals: She was engaged. Of course she revealed this _after_ she planted one on the confused Southern boy.

The next morning Pakku was still as much of a grouch as ever but he allowed Katara, who was late, join in their lesson that morning along with Aang

- \ . / -

"My fleet is ready, set a heading for the Northern Water Tribe," he ordered his helmsman. His massive ship led the way for the massive invasion fleet behind him, unaware that he had a supposed dead prince as a stowaway aboard his ship.

- / | \ -

It has been a month and a half since the group had arrived at the North Pole, and things had been interesting for all four members of the group, but the most noticible of all, was Katara, who was a water-bending prodigy, and under Master Pakku's tutelage, she exceeded far from his expectations as she now could go toe to toe with his most advanced students, making them look like novices. Far impressed with his student, he praised her abilities of a hard working genius, and not that just talent alone could achieved such level of mastery, while deadpanning at the avatar who was playing with his flying lemur.

On another part of town, Sokka and Princess Yue were walking around the city, happily conversing despite the fact that Yue couldn't deny her growing feelings for the wolf-tailed warrior and that she was engaged;

"Sokka, this is wrong," the princess said looking slightly depressed, but Sokka just played stupid;

"What's wrong? We are just taking a walk," exclaimed the teen

"Sokka I'm engaged and - . . . hey isn't that your friend, Naruto, over there?" princess Yue pointed out at a water fountain that was on an open lot as the people walked around on their business. Sokka turned around to see if she was telling the truth, and indeed, his blonde friend was sitting on the edge of the fountain, playing with his stringed musical instrument as he struck a few cords till he closed his eyes and began to play some melody, catching the attention of the passing people as they were curious as to what the strange blonde was doing. Yue and Sokka looked at each other and smiled softly as they went and got closer to hear what Naruto was going to play, and everyone around the fountain got quiet once Naruto began to sing;

_**Imagine there's no heaven  
It's easy if you try  
No hell below us  
Above us only sky  
Imagine all the people  
Living for today ah-ha ahh**_

The people that had gathered around became relaxed and entranced as they began to listen the words coming out of Naruto's mouth;

_**Imagine there's no countries  
It isn't hard to do  
Nothing to kill or die for  
And no religion too  
Imagine all the people  
Living life in peace yohoo ohh**_

By now the people were beginning to realize that he was singing a song about peace, making some of the older generation that had managed to live in the last days of peace, reminisce as to how peaceful everything was, no bloodshed or destruction, while the new generation took Naruto's words as the words of an idealist, of someone who dreamt of the impossible, since they knew that the Fire Nation was close to winning the war;

_**You may say I'm a dreamer  
But I'm not the only one  
I hope someday you'll join us  
And the world will be as one**_

Katara was walking towards the building she and friends were staying at, but on her way there, she saw a crowd gathering around a fountain, with Naruto being in the center of it, playing that musical instrument he had gathered somehow as he continued to play the melody, having the people in a trance as they listened to every words that it was being said, and some with hope that the words being spoken would come true in the end.

Curious, she walked closed towards the blonde as she tried to hear the song he was singing;

_**Imagine no possessions**_  
_**I wonder if you can**_  
_**No need for greed or hunger**_  
_**A brotherhood of man**_  
_**Imagine all the people**_  
_**Sharing all the world yohoo ooh**_

Katara could feel the emotions that rolled off his voice, and closed her eyes as she listened to his singing;

Sadness, hopefulness, sincerity.

_**You may say I'm a dreamer  
But I'm not the only one  
I hope someday you'll join us  
And the world will live as one. . . **_

When Naruto finished his song as he finished playing the last not, everyone was quiet till someone slowly started to clap. More people joined in as they began to clap as well, causing Naruto to open his eyes and look at the mass of people that had gathered to hear him sing, with Katara in the front on one side while her brother and Princess Yue stood in front on the opposite site, clapping, but suddenly, all the clapping came to an end when the people began to notice black snow began to descend upon them, causing everyone to look up to the sky in worry.

"_So . . . the battle for survival has finally begun,_" thought the blonde as he narrowed his eyes when he too looked up in the sky and saw a giant black cloud hovering upon the Northern Tribe;

"What is going on?" asked a frightened Princess, Sokka just kneeled down and grabbed a handful of snow and inspect it as he stood up;

"Soot mixed with snow," said Sokka with a hardened voice, "I've seen this before, just before my village was attacked by the Fire Nation," then he looked up to the skies with a hardened look in his eyes, "and from the looks of it, it seems there's a lot of them."

At these turn of events, the villagers' panic and fear within them grew and when the sound of the drums sounded throughout the village, their paranoia became ten-fold as they ran towards the tower to find refuge, however, problems arose between Sokka and Yue, as she told him they cannot longer associate with one another due to her growing feelings for him contradicting her engagement to her betrothed, despite the fact Sokka pointing out the lack of love in the engagement, but Yue made it clear that it is her duty as the Princess of her tribe and left, leaving the young warrior with a wounded heart as he watched her helplessly leave. Naruto watched the whole thing from afar, and walked towards Sokka and placed a hand in comfort on the teen's shoulder;

"I'm sorry," was all that Naruto could say, but Sokka just muttered a thanks and both went inside the tower.

- \ . / -

Every villager and soldier alike have gathered in front of their Chief, waiting for their leader to speak;

"The day we have feared for so long has arrived," spoke Chief Arnook with grimace, "The Fire Nation has arrived in our doorsteps, it is with great sadness that I call my family here before me, knowing full well that some of these faces are about to vanish from our tribe, "he continued to speak in solemn, "but they will never vanish from our hearts. Now as we approach our battle for our existence, I call upon the great spirits," raising his arms into the air, the Chief raised his voice, "Spirits of the Ocean! Spirits of the Moon! Be with us!"

"Chief Arnook! Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but we must reconsider an alternative option," a young warrior spoke as he stood on his feet, gaining the attention of his leader;

"And what option would that be?" asked Arnook

"We give them the Avatar," proclaimed the unknown warrior

"WHAT!" shouted Sokka and Katara, while Aang looked nervous at this and Naruto just narrowed his eyes dangerously at the unknown person;

"Listen to me m'lord, we have had a century of peace, unworried of the Fire Nation ever appearing on our territory for they knew that it was suicidal disadvantage for them to confront us at our own land," shouted the warrior, then angrily, he pointed at Aang, "Then he arrives and the Fire Nation knows he's a threat to them and are desperate to eliminate that threat no matter the cost!"

"But we cannot give up hope, there's still the Crimson Avatar to consider," shouted a female villager, only to be silenced with a glare by said young warrior;

"And where is he now! HE hasn't once shown his face since his prediction of his revival!" shouted the young teen

Everyone had fallen quiet at this, for the words spoke clarity of truth; however, one person shared his opinion at this intellect;

"You're afraid."

"What?" said the unknown warrior as he turned to the person that had called him a coward;

"You're afraid," repeated Naruto as he stood up and based his eyes upon the scared warrior, who was clearly shaking at the knees with a look of anger;

"Take that back!" demanded the teen

"Why should I? When it's clear as day that you wish to not partake in this battle, so you use Aang as a scapegoat to hide your fear, and to be honest, it's really sickening," stated the blonde coldly, making some of the people in the room flinch at the sudden drop of temperature, but the teen, blinded by rage, reached for a nearby spear and charged at the blonde with the spear in front, but Naruto just calmly stood there as he watched the charging warrior;

"NARUTO!" shouted Katara and was about to help her friend but was stopped on her tracks when Naruto signaled her to stand her ground and as soon as the charging warrior was within the blonde's reach, he sidestepped the spear strike and grabbed onto the spear while elbowing the warrior right in the side of his face, making him stumble as he let go of the spear, allowing Naruto to take it and turned it against him, holding the spear at the young warrior's neck, making him stand still in his place, in fear of making any movement to give the blonde a reason to pierce his neck while nearby warriors stand up and get ready to jump the blonde and defend their comrade;

"I don't see why you're against us, when we're brothers in the same cause," said Naruto as he glared into the eyes of the young warrior, but he didn't see it that way;

"Brothers?" laughed the unknown warrior, "You brought death upon my people. The Fire Nation will follow him everywhere he goes- they will come for the Avatar, they will stop at nothing until he's captured and killed."

"And they will come swiftering deadlier once they have killed the Avatar," retorted the blonde back, causing the young warrior and everyone else to go silent at his words. Slowly retracting the spear away from the neck, Naruto then turned to populace of the Northern Tribe, "The Fire Nation will stop at nothing. Hide here as long as you can like you have done over the past century, but believe me when I say this, they will find you. And if they aren't stopped, they'll sweep across this land and destroy all of you just like they have done to the Southern Tribe!"

"And who's going to stop them, Naruto?"

The blonde turned around, to find Chief Arnook staring at him;

"I asked a question, who's going to stop them? You? Will you stand alone before the fury of their army?"

All eyes were on Naruto now, as he stood there in the center of it all with his head low, his eyes overshadowed by his eyes till he slowly raised it up and showed everyone an unbending will of courage and a raging fire of confidence as he stared back at Arnook;

"Yes," was the blonde's response.

Nodding his head in approval, the Chief asks for volunteers for a dangerous mission, which Sokka is first to stand and say, "Count me in," despite Katara's objection. Katara then looks at Naruto to help her change her brother's mind, but all that Naruto says that he must do what it takes to protect all that he loves.

As they watched Sokka goes up the stairs and receives his mark from the Chief, signifying his acceptance to join the mission, Yue looks on as he heads back to his seat. Yue looks away blinking tears from her eyes.

- / . \ -

Later that night, Naruto was seen inside the room, sharpening his sword as he focused his mind on tomorrow;

"_So tomorrow we go into battle,_" thought Naruto as he inspected his blade's sharpness with his thumb, slightly cutting himself without flinching, and watched as the wound healed within seconds, as if it were never there, but was brought out of his musings when he heard the movement of the curtains, and turned around to see who it was that had entered the room, only to find Katara walking in and sitting close to him with her legs close to her chest and her chin resting upon her knees, silent and nervous. Grabbing the scabbard, Naruto sheathed his sword and turned towards the girl;

"What's wrong Katara?" asked the blonde, but got no response. Growing concern, he scooted closer to her and sat in front of her, and tried to ignore the feeling of his heart aching when he saw the silent tears falling down the girls cheeks. Unable to stand it anymore, he reached out for her and pulled her into a hug, to which she gladly received and let out all of her fears as she cried. Naruto tried to calm her down as he softly rubbed her back and soothe her with his whispers;

"Shhh it's alright, what's wrong?" he asked softly, and this time Katara raised her head from his chest and looked at him with tear filled eyes

"I'm afraid, Naruto," she admitted, "I'm afraid of losing the people I love in this war. I don't want to lose you, Sokka, or Aang," she cried out as she hugged him tighter, "I've already lost my mother and it still hurts."

Naruto just hugged her tighter as he growled in his mind, "_Damn you Uchiha! I promise, I will kill you for the hell you have wrought!_"

Calming down a bit, Naruto pulled the young water-bender out of the hug and looked at her eyes with tender care;

"Katara, don't worry about a thing, we'll pull through this battle, I promise," assured the blonde

Looking into his eyes, she saw no lies, then without a word, she reached into the back of her neck and took off her mother's necklace and wrapped it around Naruto's wrist;

"Um . . . Katara, I'm flattered, but uh . . . I don't think I'm ready for marriage," said the blonde as he eyed the necklace now tied around his wrist, making said girl blush deeply red

"I'm not asking you to marry me," replied the young girl as she tried to control her blush

"Then why givie it to me?" he asked

"I want you to promise me that no matter what, you'll come back alive and return it to me, promise me," urged Katara as she pleaded with her eyes, making Naruto recall a memory from the past;

- ( Flashback ) –

"_Naruto, don't go by yourself! At least take your students with you," pleaded a very pregnant Ten-ten as she tried to reason with her husband;_

"_Ten-chan, you and I both know that no matter how skilled they are, they are no match against Sasuke," countered Naruto, then he hugged her lovingly as he pulled her close, "Trust me Ten-ten, I will not lose to the Uchiha, no matter what."_

"_Then promise me Naruto, promise that no matter what, you'll come back to me," pleaded Ten-ten as she held on onto him with tears streaming down her cheeks_

"_I promise Ten-chan, that even if I have to crawl using my hands, I promise to come back to you, it's a promise of a lifetime," said the blonde as they both stayed in their embrace._

- ( Flashback End ) –

"Naruto!"

Being snapped out of his trip down memory lane, he looked back again into the eyes of the young girl in front of him and couldn't help but feel the similarities between the two;

"I promise Katara, it's a promise of a lifetime," said the blonde softly as he felt the girl hug him tightly once again and stayed in each other's embrace for a while, till Katara pulled out of their hug;

"Naruto . . . "

"Hmm?"

"May I stay with you for the night?" she asked without looking at him in the eye, "If you don't mind that is."

Getting rid of his surprise, the blonde couldn't help but think;

"_The two of them may be different people, but their personalities are almost the same._"

"Yea I don't mind," replied Naruto

Naruto, then laid down on his futon and scooted back, to allow her to jump in and cuddle into him. Naruto just stayed quiet as he pulled the covers on top of them, and rested for the night.

- \ . / -

The sun was slowly rising while everyone was on full alert as they stood in arms, waiting on the first strike to be made by the Fire Nation as the first ship became visible on the horizon, however, they were unprepared as they saw a flashing dot on the ship, being launched towards them. Naruto recognized the incoming attack and turned towards everyone on the frozen wall;

"INCOMING!"

And without warning, the ball fire crashed into the wall, causing an explosion that launches some of the people back, while a few stood their ground, Naruto and Aang being some of them as each rode their animal companion. Anotherball of fire was shot, but this time it went over the icy wall and smashed into some part of the village, not waiting any further, Naruto instructed Shen to take flight;

"Shen! Let's take the battle to them!" shouted the blonde and the dragon let out a roar as it jumped off the wall and took flight, heading straight towards the enemy ships with Aang and Appa flying right behind him as he deflected another fireball into the mountain side, and watched as the Avatar jumped off the bison into the ship below him and destroyed the catapults while he fought against the ship's crew, only to be sunk by the water-benders as they made a giant iceberg and pierced it.

Looking ahead, the blonde's eyes widen in shock when he saw the Fire Nation's invasion force;

"Oh shit . . . this could be trouble," muttered the blonde, but not being intimidated the slightest, he steeled himself as he grabbed onto his dragon's rails, "Let's go Shen, let's show these guys how it's done."

And so, the dragon dove closer to the water and flew at fasts speeds as he dashed towards the Fire Nation's ships, Naruto then unsheathes his sword and applies his wind affinity, making the dull part of the blade razor sharp as he struck the first five nearby ships, slashing side to side as he made a giant gashes on the metal and watched as the ship slowly sunk into the water, then the dragon evaded each fire strike from the fire-benders aboard the ships. Noticing this, Naruto reached for his kunais and launched them upwards the fire-benders; nailing them right in the head as they fell overboard lifelessly, then the blond made slight hands movements, making the water freeze right under them, then slowly, he brought his hand up and snapped his fingers, causing the ice beneath them to shatter along with the metal, making 20 ships sink without warning into the depths of the ocean, making everyone stare in shock at the blonde's display of power;

"Unbelievable . . . "gasped one of the water-benders while the others just nodded their heads numbly

Naruto then jumped into one of the ships and saw that he was quickly surrounded in all directions with either their weapons drawn or fire dancing in their hands, as well as four other ships surrounding the one he was on, making sure he didn't escape. Smirking, the blond simply waved his hand to the side and made a giant mist cover the five ships. Everyone aboard the ships grew tense and fearful, for they didn't know from where the blonde was going to strike, then a voice was heard out of nowhere, but the thing that scared them the most was the sound of the voice that seem to be everywhere, almost demonic;

"**8 choices . . . liver, lungs, spine, clavical vein, neck vein, brain, and kidney hearts . . . which one should I go after . . . ?**"

The soldiers almost pissed themselves when the blonde spoke, but then ran like headless chickens when they began to hear the screams of their comrades drying with the sound of flesh being cut, screaming loudly for everyone to hear, however, the people outside of the mist couldn't see a thing due to the thickness of the mist, but were able to hear the pain screams of those that were being butchered. Then slowly, the mist began to clear, and the sight that was before them made a few turn green.

In the middle of the ship, was Naruto, with sword in hand and his head lowered while the dead carcasses of the crew lay on the ground, bleeding profusely. Around him, the rest of the ship's deck, bodies of the dead were scattered all over. Naruto signaled for his dragon to come, and come he did as he landed next to the blonde and lowered his neck, allowing him to mount and descended towards the skies once again. Once he was a good distance away, Naruto made a simple hand sign and made all five ships explode.

- / . \ -

Admiral Zhao and General Iroh saw from a distance at the damage the blonde had caused, making the admiral grit his teeth in anger, then turned towards the general;

"Tell all the ships to launch an all out attack, let's see if they can prevent the unavoidable," barked Zhao as he turn his glare back towards the Nothern tribe

Iroh just quietly nodded his head and left the room, but not before he gave his nephew the news of a boarding soon

- \ . / -

Naruto and Aang along with everyone else then saw all the ships simultaneously launch fire balls at them, having no choice, they evaded them and watched as how they were headed for the village, making Aang's eyes widen in fear;

"They are headed for the village!"

"_It's time for you to enter the battle boss,_" thought the blonde as he calmly stared at the village

- / . \ -

Katara and Master Pakku saw the fire balls heading their way, and knew that they had no chance of defending against that many, resorting to run away, much to their dislike;

"Abandon your positions and take cover!" shouted Pakku and everyone retreated, all except one, making Katara stop as she stared at the individual, he wore the usual Northern Tribe gear, except the coat was sleeveless from the shoulders down with his head being covered by the hoodie of his coat with black bandages wrapped around the lower part of his face with a black bandana covering his forehead. Running back towards him, Katara grabbed onto one of his arms and tried to pull him, but wouldn't budge;

"Are you deft? Run!" shouted Katara, but the individual simply turned his head towards her and made her gasp when she saw his eyes, letting go of his arm as she took a few steps back.

Crimson eyes glowing softly with slits in the middle staring at her, then slowly the person spoke;

"Step back or you'll be caught in the torrents," then he took a few steps forward and placed his left leg forward as he twisted his upper body till he shot both his hands forward (AN: think of the Kamehameha wave hand position in the end.) launching a huge blast of wind, leveling any of the fire boulders that came in its path; destroying majority of them, leaving but a few as they still descended onward the village. Quickly the individual jumped into a horse stance and spread both of his arms out, forcefully brought them together, with his forearms put in front of him as a shield, making the mountains on both sides of the wall spread into the gate, creating a giant wall, tall as the mountain themselves to protect them as the boulders crashed into it, not even making a dent as he maintained it tall.

Katara and the rest of the water-benders watched in awe and shock as how one man single handedly destroyed the boulders and protected the city while some glowing markings began to appear on the individual's arms as he lowered his arms slowly and made the wall crumble onto the water. The rumbling sound of rocks hitting the water was heard throughout the city while the man just slowly turned around towards the people of the Northern Tribe, causing of them to tense for they didn't know or recognized him;

"Who are you?" shouted Master Pakku

"My name is unimportant, but be rest assured, I have come to help you," declared the man

Katara, slowly approached him, and locked eyes with him;

"You're him, aren't you?" she questioned, causing the man to turn towards her, "You're the Crimson Avatar."

Many were shocked at her question, and turned at the man, waiting for his answer; all he did was nod his head.

- \ . / -

Meanwhile, those that had volunteered for the special mission assigned by Chief Arnook, they were being debriefed on infiltrating the Fire Nation navy by wearing actual Fire Nation soldiers suits, however, Sokka pointed out that the suits were too old since the new suits were very much different from the ones they had. Hahn didn't like being upstaged and challenged Sokka's intelligence only to be defended by the chief himself. Then Sokka was very source full again when provided information on the admiral when Arnook commanded his soldiers to find out who was the chief in command. Impressed with Sokka's knowledge, he instructed him to tell everything he knows to Hahn, who was later soon to become his son-in-law, much to the distaste of Sokka who grumbled a congratulation.

- / . \ -

The sun was soon setting and the Fire Nation was still launching their boulders towards the village, however, the damage wasn't as much with the Crimson Avatar joining the fight, shooting compressed air bullets or using air blades to cut the boulders in half and make them explode in mid air while the rest of the water-benders created giant pillars of ice to stop the boulders from impacting;

"_Damn it, for every boulder we manage to destroy, two or more boulders have already passed our defenses,_" thought the hooded Avatar, then he grinned under his wraps "_Looks like I'm going to take it up a nudge._"

Suddenly, his markings began to glow their crimson hue and retreated into the center of the village and turned to face the icy gate. Spreading his legs apart with his bodyweight leaning more on his right leg while his left hand was balled into a fist and placed close to his side as his right hand was stretched out all the way to his right with his palm open and slowly brought in front of him while twisting his hand with his fingers extended out and rapidly, he balled into a fist, causing a great quake throughout the village and across the ocean as small tidal waves began to surface.

"What's going on?" asked Yue

"I don't know," replied Katara, only to hear the rumble on something crumbling. Turning to the front gate, Katara gasped in shock when she saw the wall crumbling into pieces and a bright light caught her attention. Looking down, she saw that it was the Avatar himself that had brought the wall down;

"What is he doing?" almost yelled Yue in fear when she saw as well what the Crimson Avatar had done;

After he had brought down the wall, he shifted his weight forward on his left leg as he pulled back his right hand and pushed his left hand out in a claw motion facing up, raising it as he pushed his hand out, making the quake even stronger as it shook the whole village even more as an ice berg slowly began to emerge from where the great gate was. Bringing his right leg forward as he made a scooping motion with his right hand till he brought it upward, making the ice berg rise rapidly into the sky, standing tall as the mountains themselves. Then he brought both his hands forward and balled them tightly, causing the ice to hardened as it look transparent, standing completely on his feet as he brought his arms to his sides as he watched the incoming fire balls made impact with the wall and explode, only to barely make any damage.

- \ . / -

Back at the commanding ship that transported Admiral Zhao and General Iroh, both fire-benders could gape at the events that had occurred before heir very eyes, however, one held pure disbelief while the other held nothing but absolute anger and hate;

"_Damn him! He will not deny me my destiny!_" snarled the Admiral in his mind as he gripped into the rails tightly, causing his knuckles to pop from the sheer pressure.

"It's almost twilight Admiral, as your military consultant, I must advice you to hold your attack," said Iroh without taking his sights of the new build wall, "The water-benders draw their power from the moon and it is nearly full tonight. You should wait and resume the attack on day break."

Calming down a bit, the Admiral placed both his hands behind his back as he turned towards his General;

"Oh, I'm very aware of the moon problem and I'm working on a solution," said the Admiral darkly, "But for now, day break it is."

Iroh simply bowed his head before he left to instruct the other ships to stop their assault, leaving the Admiral alone as he turned his sights back towards to the wall, he couldn't help but feel a sense of dread washing over him in the back of his mind, but he ignored it as he believed no one could stop him.

- / . \ -

The boulders kept on coming only to be stopped on their tracks once they kept on crashing into the new made wall while the Crimson Avatar continued to observe;

"There, with a density that thick, it should be enough to hold off the fire balls and buy us time to recuperate," muttered the Avatar as he watched the lat of the balls coming, making a few cracks on some parts but still held strong. Then he narrowed his eyes as saw they had stopped their attack, "Strange, why would they stop attacking."

Then suddenly, two shadows hovered above him. Looking up, he saw that it was the Avatar's flying bison with Shen flying suit till they landed close to Yue and Katara;

"They're back," he muttered to himself, and sees the blonde mounting off the dragon uninjured or strained, "And it looks like my accomplice had no trouble dispatching of a few Fire Nation ships, time to put the next phase in motion," and so, he disappeared in a swirl of wind.

- \ . / -

After lading and sliding off Appa, Aang brought his knees close to him and placed his elbows on top of them as he held his head in his hands;

"I can't do it, I can't do it," muttered Aang

"What happened?" asked Katara as she ran towards him and kneeled beside him, placing a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder

"We're being overwhelmed by sheer numbers," replied Naruto as he dismounted his dragon

"I must've taken down a dozens of Fire Nation ships, but they just keep coming," said Aang as he looked at them with defeated eyes, "I can't fight them all."

"But . . . you have to, you're the Avatar," said Yue with desperation

"I'm just one kid," was Aang's reply

Everyone stayed quiet, only for a new arrival to speak his mind;

"If this is the world's last hope, then the world is truly doomed if he gives up this easily."

Everyone turned to find the Crimson Avatar staring at Aang as he walked towards them with hard eyes, making said boy flinch in fright, but still maintained a front as he stood up against him;

"Who are you! What would you know of the weight I carry on my shoulders!" shouted Aang only to receive no reaction of the C. Avatar

"I know because I was in your shoes ten thousand years ago, except the difference between you and I; is that I didn't give up, no matter what the obstacle was in front of me," replied the C. Avatar, making the young Avatar shut his mouth. Steeping forward, Naruto got in front of the C. Avatar, gaining his attention;

"I take it was you that destroyed the first wall to create a stronger one," stated the blonde, causing Aang's eyes to widen, which was ignored as the C. Avatar just nodded his head;

"Yes I did, the previous wall was about to crumble, so I brought it down and build a dam, far denser and thicker to withstand the fireballs. It should hold enough to buy us time to regroup with Master Pakku to sort out a plan to prepare for when the Fire Nation does infiltrate the village," explained the Avatar, "The blonde bastard and I will go look for Master Pakku, while you three tend to the wounded and help out as much as you can," ordered the Avatar while the others nodded and went their separate ways to help, leaving Naruto and the C. Avatar by themselves;

"You know boss, if they find out the truth, they will probably hate you for hiding it from them, especially Katara after all she has gone through," said Naruto as he turned towards his master, who let out a sigh;

"I know, but that's a risk I'm willing to take, especially if Sasuke is out searching for me, which I know he has been doing since my resurface at the South Pole. Plus, I cannot guarantee their safety once I confront the Uchiha face to face," he said as he turned to where the Fire Nation ships were stationed, "The Uchiha will most likely look for any other sights I might've or may appear in order to predict my next move, and knowing his arrogance, he will most likely dismiss the reports of one wandering swordsman wearing Earth Kingdom clothing aiding the Avatar," he explained further, giving his clone a grin as he turned to him through his bandages, causing said clone to chuckle;

"So that's the reason you haven't been using your bending, you can blend in within the chaos and help out more than making yourself a target by using your bending and putting the others at risk," deducted the clone, which got a nod from the original Naruto

"That is correct," confirmed the blonde Avatar, becoming serious once again, he said,"Let's head out and prepare ourselves for daybreak."

The clone simply nodded his head and both of them disappeared without much of a trace.

- / . \ -

Deep in the hold of Zhao's ship, Zuko has removed his Fire Nation soldier uniform and prepares for his solo journey into the Water Tribe city with his sights to capture the Avatar in min. Iroh expresses his concern for Zuko, saying that he only nags Zuko because, since the loss of his own son, he sees Zuko like his own. Zuko acknowledges his uncle's statement and says he will meet Iroh again after he has the Avatar. After Zuko successfully maneuvers his kayak to the shores of the ice cap just next to the base of the Water Tribe outer wall and observes turtle seals diving into an opening in the ice. Knowing the creatures must come up for air somewhere; Zuko takes a deep breath and dives in.

Zuko manages to find where the Turtle Seals come up for air – an underground cave. He uses his breath of fire to ward off the effects of his icy swim, then after hearing the turtle seals bark too much, annoyingly, he yells at the creatures to be quiet. Zuko then works his way up an opening with water rushing through. Zuko ascends to an air pocket in the freezing water and catches his breath. He then spots another passage up under the water and heads through, but is met with an ice barrier. Using his Firebending, Zuko melts the ice and breaks through, resting briefly. He had successfully breached the Northern Water Tribe and begins his search of the Avatar.

- \ . / -

Back with the Water Tribe warrior barracks, Hahn arrogantly informs Sokka about the perks of marrying Yue, which only serves to anger Sokka. Not fully comprehending his insensitivity towards the princess, Hahn then insults Sokka by insinuating that he lacks the ability to understand their tribe's way of functioning. Sokka lunges at Hahn calling him pretty much an asshole. The fight continues until Chief Arnook breaks it up and tells Sokka he is off the mission.

Leaving Hahn to arrogantly claim that with his command they will bring down Admiral Zhao, while mispronouncing his name, frustrating Sokka even further as he yells out the correct pronunciation.

Later on, after Hahn had left to infiltrate the Admiral's ship, Sokka is still on the weapons room, sharpening his boomerang, expressing his discomfort at being taken out of the mission after Chief Arnook had approached, explaining himself that he had pulled him out of selfishness for a special task – guarding his daughter, Princess Yue. Sokka humbly agrees.

- / . \ -

While looking at the nearly full moon after they had attended the wounded as instructed, Yue tells Aang and Katara about the legend of the Moon teaching Water-bending to the people of the Water Tribes by observing the push and pull on the Ocean by the Moon. Suddenly, Aang realizes that maybe the spirits can help him on his quest to save the Water Tribe. Yue says she may know of a place where Aang can reach the spirits, and proceeds to lead him and Katara to the most spiritual place in the entire North Pole. Aang is ecstatic to see grass again, and Katara is amazed at how warm it is there. Aang begins to meditate at the base of the oasis pool containing two koi fish – one black, one white – swimming in a circle. However, as Aang tries to get into the Spirit World through meditation, Katara and Yue's conversation distracts him, but after he shouts out in annoyance, they kept their mouths shut. Aang then focuses on the koi fish and finally enters the Spirit World. Yue asks Katara if they should get some help, but Katara says she can protect Aang. At that moment Zuko appears, mocking Katara as she gets into a fighting stance and tells Yue to leave to go and get help, leaving Katara and Zuko to fight it out. Zuko realizes Katara's skill level has greatly advanced from earlier encounters, and he is eventually encased in ice – (**A/N:** similar way Katara had done to Pupil Sangok at the beginning of the episode)-, at the end of their bout. However, as the sun rises, Zuko manages to melt his way out of Katara's trap and overpower Katara, forcing her against a tree with a fire blast, knocking her out, giving him the chance to take Aang's body and escape from the oasis.

Just as daybreak arrives, the Fire Nation ships resumed their attack on the wall as they launched the fire balls once again at the wall, cracks appearing all over it, weakening it enough for them to break through the Water Tribe's outer wall as they rammed their shops, eushing in to attack.

Back on his command ship, Zhao watches with satisfaction as the soldiers began their invation within the wall;

"The water tribe and the Avatar may try and resist the inevitable, but today, this i swear, the Crimson Avatar and the their city will fall today," remarked the admiral with a vicious grin on his face

- \ . / -

Princess Yue was running as fast as she could, trying to find anyone to help her. Not noticing where she was going, she bumped into someone, causing the both of them fall on their ass;

"Watch where you're . . . Princess Yue?" said the person she had bumped into;

Rubbing her head, she looked to see who it was that she had crashed into, and saw that it was Katara's weird colored haired friend, Naruto;

"Naruto!" shouted Yue as she jumped to her feet and grabbed onto his hands, "We need your help!"

"Yue, calm down, what's wrong?" asked the Naruto clone as he tried to calm the princess, "A fire-bender with a large scar on his face is attacking Aang and Katara at the Spirit Oasis!"

"_A fire-bender with a scar on his face . . . . _"pondered on the blonde on his mind, till his eyes widen in realization, "_Zuko!_"

"Yue, go look for Sokka, he's looking for you," ordered Naruto, "I'll head towards the Oasis and assist Katara, now go!"

And quickly, Yue ran to look for Sokka while Naruto placed his fingers inside his mouth and made a loud whistle, calling for his dragon as he quickly came to his master's call;

"Head towards the Oasis Shen, Katara's in trouble," shouted Naruto as he mounted his dragon and grabbed a hold of the rails. Shen just let out a thunderous roar as he jumped into the air and took flight, heading towards the tower and flying over the wall that hid the hidden Oasis, spotting an unconscious girl by the tree right away;

"Katara!"

Naruto then instructs the dragon to land, and dismounts his dragon before Shen even touched the ground and ran towards the girl. Kneeling next to her, he scooped his arms underneath her and shook her gently;

"Please wake up, Katara! Katara!" whispered Naruto worriedly, only to let out a sigh of relief when he saw the girl beginning to stir as she gained consciousness

"Ugh . . . . my head . . ." murmured Katara as she rubbed her head while slowly sitting up, then her eyes widen, "Aang!"

"Katara, what happened?" asked the blonde softly

"Zuko took him, he took him from right under me," replied Katara, holding her head on her palm

"Let's go Katara, Zuko couldn't have gotten far," said Naruto as he got to his feet and mounted Shen, then he extended his hand towards the girl, who quickly got up and gladly took his hand, mounting the dragon behind Naruto and quickly they took off into the skies in search for their bald friend

Not far from the village, Zuko is carrying Aang through a blizzard across the ice cap with showing snow falling from an ominous cloud filled sky.

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TBC . . .


	10. Book I Chapter 7, pt 2

Here's part 2 of the chapter, the final arc of Book I

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_Water_

_Earth_

_Fire_

_Air_

_Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony,_

_Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked,_

_Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them,_

_But when the world needed him most, he vanished._

_One hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, _

_An air-bender named Aang, _

_But unknown to us, the avatar of legend, a man named Naruto had reawakened._

_And although Aang's air-bending skills are amazing and Naruto may be the crimson avatar, they both have a lot to learn before they're ready to save anyone._

_But . . ._

_I believe Aang and Naruto can save the world._

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Calm Before the Storm;

Wrath of the Awakened Dragon, pt. 2

-\ II /-

\ . /

Zuko had finally succeeded in capturing the Avatar as he carries Aang across the polar ice cap; Aang's spirit has arrived in what looks like a swamp. He then approaches an Odd Spirit (Enma) and asks for some assistance on finding the Moon and Ocean spirits. The annoyed spirit tells Aang to get lost. Aang, refusing to give up, continues to ask the spirit for help, then a glowing speck flies by and the spirit suggests Aang chase it, because it may be able to help him. Aang chases the glowing speck through the Spirit World, but when he finally manages to grasp it, the branch he is standing on disappears and Aang falls into the water. Avatar Roku's image appears as a reflection in the water, greeting Aang;

"Hello, Aang."

"Roku! . . . Roku, the Water Tribe is under attack and we are being overwhelmed, even with the help of the Crimson Avatar, I need to find the Ocean and Moon spirits!" ranted Aang with urgency

Suddenly the maroon colored water fountains up and solidifies into the shape of Avatar Roku.

"The Ocean and the Moon are ancient spirits. They crossed over from the Spirit World to the Mortal World very near the beginning," explained Roku, "However, there is only one spirit that I know of who is old enough to remember."

"Who?" asks Aang

"The spirit's name is Koh, but he is very dangerous," warned the former Avatar, "They call him . . . the Face Stealer."

Aang looks shocked and frightened.

"When you speak with him you must be very careful to show no emotion at all . . . not the slightest expression or he will steal your face!"

Aang forces the fear from his face and nods at Roku stoically.

- / . \ -

Back at the Northern Water Tribe, Fire Nation troops move further into the city, however, they have some difficulty in their advance, since one individual kept on intruding in their path;

The disguised blonde avatar was fighting a small battalion himself as he dodged their weapon strikes, and ducked underneath one more only to come rising with his hand in a sword like motion as he slashed upward, using the wing to kill the soldier as it slashed him clean in half and turned sideways to a spear strike but countered by throwing a punch at the man's midsection, shooting compressed air out of his fist at the moment of impact. The body fell slowly to the ground while Naruto jumped at the oncoming soldiers as he went underneath their sword strikes and placed both palms on each of the man's chest, launching flames from his palms as he disintegrated the two soldiers to naught but ash. Then Naruto heard the sounds of cannons and turned in time to see a hooks heading at him, he tried to evade them but his left arm got caught as it got tangled while his right got tangled by the other chain. The tanks tried to snare the blonde but Naruto wouldn't budge as he used the ice to hold him in place by his feet. Fire-benders quickly gathered around the blonde as they powered up and launched their fire streams at him, believing that they had him, however, they were unable to see the growing smirk underneath his wraps till they impacted and caused a minor explosion, giving the soldiers a reason to cheer as they saw the smoke caused by the fire, but their cheering soon came to an end when they saw the chains being pulled and with a harsh yank, both tanks lost their upper structure and the flames had turned white, parting in the middle as they saw the avatar walking slowly out of the fire;

"That was a great effort," praised the blonde coldly, "Now it's my turn."

Raising his arms slightly to the sides, he made the fire that surrounded him dance around the chains as he had hold of them and without warning; he began to slash the soldiers with the fiery chains, igniting all those that were in contact with the chains or cut them to pieces as he used the chains to wrapped and bended the metal chain to constrict, causing screams of horror and pain. Then he jumped into the air, and brought his hand down as he landed, having the chain slash the tank in two as it went through the metal without problems, but noticed that they were too many of them to handle as he saw some tanks kept marching forward;

"Damn it!" cursed the blonde Avatar as he dodged another stream of fire and thrusts his hand forward as he turned, launching the chain at the fire-bender, piercing the man in the chest and getting incinerated by the disguised Naruto before he even had a chance to scream

While the Crimson Avatar took care of the soldiers that had breached the first wall, the defenders rally atop the secondary wall, where a line of water-benders returns fire. Right under the top of the wall is a line of portholes through which water pours into the moat below. The water-benders motion in unison and the gentle streams become mighty jets of water. Two tanks are washed away, but several others behind them fire massive grappling hooks into the secondary wall. The hooks penetrate the wall clear through to the other side as the water-benders scatter. The tanks with the grappling hooks then begin to reel back on the lines. The tanks are anchored in the ice to prevent the tank from just hauling itself to the wall. The wall cracks slowly, and then gives way as more fireballs fly overhead. A huge breach has been opened, revealing a war rhinoceros and other infantry ready to pour through.

- \ . / -

Back on the commanding ship, Zhao was looking at the battlefield with satisfaction;

"I don't need to remind you, we have a time limit," warned Iroh as he approached the admiral, "If we don't defeat the Water Tribe before the full moon rises they will be undefeatable."

Smiling evilly Zhao responds to Iroh's statement, "I assure you, I have everything under control," turning to his general, he continued, "I intend to remove the moon as a factor."

Looking incredulously, "Remove the moon! How?"

However, they were suddenly interrupted as someone entered from behind, spear in hand, and took off his Helmet to throw it aside, revealing Hahn;

"Admiral Choi! Prepare to meet your fate!" declares the arrogant teen and rushes forward to Zhao, only to meet his end as the admiral simply spears the chest with his fingers and shoots flames from his fingertips while they are inside Hahn's body. Hahn screams as he feels his insides being set aflame till he finally stops his screaming and falls limps on the Admiral's arms. With a scowl on his face, Zhao grabs onto throws Hahn's 'borrowed' armor plates and throws the body overboard and a loud splash is heard. Iroh looks down and shakes his head, then turns back to Zhao. (**A/N:** sue me, I don't like the prick)

Ignoring the pathetic assassination attempt as he wiped his hand on his cape, Zhao continued, "As I was saying . . . years ago I stumbled upon a great and powerful secret . . . the identity of the Moon Spirit's mortal form.''

"What?" exclaimed a shocked Iroh

- ( Flashback: while Zhao narrates ) -

"_**I was a young Lieutenant serving under General Shu in the Earth Kingdom.**_"

_An image of Zhao is sitting at a desk in a windowless room, perhaps a basement of some sort as stairs lead up in the foreground. In front of Zhao, the candle on the desk illuminates a map of the middle Earth Kingdom on the wall in front of the desk. _

"_**I discovered a hidden library, underground in fact. I tore through scroll after scroll," **__narrated the admiral,__** "One of them contained a detailed illustration and the words . . . Moon and Ocean . . . I knew then that these spirits could be found . . . . and killed . . . **_"

- ( Flashback Ends) -

The memory ends with a close up of Zhao's eyes, then fade to the present, "And that it was my destiny to do so."

"Zhao, the Spirits are not to be trifled with!" retorted the general angrily, "especially when the Great Spirit is lurking through the Northern Tribe!"

"Yes, yes, I know you fear the Spirits, Iroh," said Zhao patronizingly, "I've heard rumors about your journey into the Spirit World, but the Ocean and Moon spirits gave up their immortality to become a part of our world . . . and now they will face the consequences!"

- / . \ -

Naruto and Katara were riding on Shen's back through the icy storm, till they had to make a sudden landing with the winds becoming too strong. Naruto dismounts the dragon and looks for Aang while Katara stays with Shen. Not being able to see a thing, Naruto turns back towards the girl and shakes his head, making the young water-bender lower hear head in sadness.

Mounting the dragon behind Katara, Naruto slides his arms under the girl's arms to get a hold of the reigns and instructs the beast to take flight once again. Looking down at Katara, he saw how bad she was beating herself up;

"Don't worry Katara, Prince Emo couldn't have gotten this far in this weather," said Naruto, trying to cheer her up, but it backfired as he felt her shoulders slump down even further;

"I'm not worried about them getting away from this blizzard," admitted the girl depressingly, "I'm worried about that they won't."

"Don't be pessimistic Katara, from one thing I can tell bout Zuko is that he is resilient and hardheaded," countered Naruto, "They won't die in this storm and we will find them, believe it."

Smiling a bit, she nodded her head and helped the blonde search for the two while they were on the air

Unknown to them, Zuko was closer than they thought as he sat inside the shelter, using his fire to warm him up, then Zuko talks to Aang's body while Aang is still in the Spirit World. He laments how now that he has Aang, the blizzard prevents him from taking Aang back to the Fire Nation. Zuko then compares Aang's natural talents to his own sister's and recalls his struggles that have made him strong without any help from luck.

- \ . / -

Aang hops across the top of a line of wooden pylons on his way to a huge gnarled tree in the background. The tree is partially silhouetted by a light source behind it that is too dim to be the sun, but too bright to be the moon. Aang stops as a monstrous coyote or other dog like creature passes behind the tree, the creature seemed to be about the size of small mountain. Aang continues his approach to the base of the tree where there is a dark hole, which he approaches fearfully.

With relief he says, "Oh! Whew! You're just a curly tailed blue nose."

The monkey turns around to reveal that it has no face. Aang starts in fright, and then drops all emotion from his face. He breathes deeply.

_Show no fear. Show no emotion at all._

Aang walks into the hole. Koh's tree silhouetted against the unseen backlight. Aang descends into Koh's lair. Light pours through the lairs opening, though the lair that is still quite dark.

"Hello? I'm looking for a spirit named . . . Koh . . ."

As Aang says the spirit's name, some roots on the ceiling begin to move. Aang looks around, sensing movement, but sees nothing. A moment later a white face appears, with grey patches around its eyes and luscious, blood red lips. The face is vaguely clown like.

Suddenly, a huge cockroach like body arcs around Aang and appears in front of his face. The white, clown like face of Koh is inches away from Aang. Around the spirit's face are eight legs that are attached to a centipede like body.

"Welcome!"

Aang's face remains inscrutable. The monster hangs from the ceiling in front of Aang, who bows with his hands clasped in front of him in a gesture of honor.

"Thank you."

Koh wheels around Aang to look at him from the back. His voice is low, melodic, almost purring, but underneath that silky, danger oozes;

"My old friend, the Avatar, it's been a long time.''

"You know me?" asks Aang emotionlessly

"How could I forget," at this moment Koh's face changes from the clown mask to a middle-aged mustached man, "One of your previous incarnations tried . . ." sticking his face right up to Aang's, ". . . to slay me! It was eight or nine hundred years ago."

"I didn't know that, why did he or I try to kill you?" pondered Aang

"Oh . . ." his face changes to that of a beautiful, flowing haired young woman, "It was something about stealing the face of someone you loved," said Koh mockingly, then a sinister grin appeared on the woman's face and face changes to the curly tailed blue nose face as Koh begins to laugh cruelly, "Of course, that's all behind us. Why should I hold a grudge against you for something in a past life? After all, you're a different person now," sticking his fanged, monkey face up to Aang's ear from behind him, "You've come to me with a new face."

Aang closes his eye and breathes. Aang stands on the stairs, Koh wraps his body loosely around him.

"It's been a long time since I've added a child's face to my collection," His face is now that of an owl, "So how may I help you?"

During the conversation Koh continues to wrap around Aang, making endless circles.

"I need to find the Moon and the Ocean."

"Their spirit names are Tui and La. Push and Pull and that has been the nature of their relationship for all time," informed Koh, taking a pause as he collected his thoughts, "Although, the Ocean spirit's true human name was once Inari, Water Sage of the Elemental Nations."

"What do you mean, by his true name?" asked the young Avatar, having difficulty keeping his demeanor

"The Ocean spirit was once human and a former student of the one who gave birth to the Avatar cycle," said Koh smoothly, watching Aang with a keen eye for any slight of emotion

"The Avatar of Four Dragons," was the response

"Ahh so you've already met him," stated the centipede like spirit with glee

"But if the Ocean Spirit was once human, what about the Moon spirit?" asked the Avatar, ignoring the Face Stealer's statement

"The Moon spirit fought the Water Sage and was defeated by him, but instead of being enraged by such act, the unthinkable happened, she fell in love with the human," told the spirit with a bit of distaste, "She gave up her immortality to be with him but tragedy struck when war had risen once more, but it was stopped before it escalated, not without sacrifice. He fell in battle and his heart ached as he watched his love mourn his death. Not being to withstand such pain, he gave up his own power and immortality to be with her, but not without a price," said Koh, "The two had to forever maintain balance in the mortal plane for all eternity."

"Then please, help me find them," pleaded Aang without emotion, "An entire culture could be destroyed if I don't get their help."

Koh's face flips to that of an old man, "Oh, you think you need their help? Actually, it's quite the other way around," said Koh with a shrug, then within an instant, Koh turns and bolts to Aang, pressing his face within inches of Aang's. Koh's face has changed again from the old man to a blue ogre like face with red eyes and huge fangs, "Someone's going to kill them!"

Aang closes his eyes briefly, then opens them to look at Koh;

"What do you mean? How can I find them and protect them?"

Flipping back to his white face, "You've already met them, actually."

Aang, as Koh has reared himself up, so Aang must look up to see his face.

"Tui and La, your Moon and Ocean, have always circled each other in an eternal dance. They balance each other . . . push and pull . . . life and death . . .good and evil . . .yin and yang."

Aang's eyes open wide, as he gets a flashback of the white and black fish circling each other in the pond and the vision he got of them turning into the yin and yang symbol just before he entered the Spirit World.

Smiling,he exclaimed, "The koi fish!"

Koh, hearing the emotion in Aang's voice, appears instantly with his blue ogre face in front of the Avatar, ready to take his face. But no luck Aang's face is once again a model of impassivity.

"I must be going now."

Flipping to the face of a bald young man, "We'll meet again."

Koh recedes back into the shadows; Aang emerges from Koh's lair and looks down at his reflection on the ground, only to turn into an image of Avatar Roku, "The spirits are in trouble. I need to get back to the physical world."

"A friend is here to guide you back," says Roku before he fades to the panda form of Hei-Bai, the forest spirit from. Aang's turns with a smile.

"Hei-Bai!"

Hei-Bai is indeed behind him, reared up on his hind legs. He gets on all fours and Aang jumps onto his neck. Hei Bai takes Aang back to the gate and breaths out a light toward Aang which sends Aang's spirit to the mortal world. When the Enma decided to be an ass, Hei Bai blasted him off of his rock.

- / . \ -

Nightfall has come and the full moon has risen. The Water-bending Warriors power is enhanced as they fiercely battle the Fire Nation soldiers. Meanwhile, the Crimson Avatar stood side to side with Master Pakku as they had a little contest of their own as they fought the soldiers;

The blonde avatar shot forward his hand out in a spear like motion with all four fingers spread apart as his body was placed on his left leg, causing the snow to shot up into four spear like ice spikes, piercing four soldiers through the abdomen before they had a chance to launch their flames at the two. Pakku, on the other hand, ducked under Naruto's spear like hand strike as he moved both his hands in a circular motion, but one going clockwise direction while the other went counter-clockwise till the both ended on Pakku's right side with one palm facing up while the other was faced down, sending a wave of snow with spikes at the front at a squad of fire soldiers, squatting them as they were killed by the wave.

"That's 52 for me Avatar," declared Pakku as he got up and rotated his arms backwards, using the snow to cut off the wheels of the three tanks that were approaching them, intending to run them over

"You better catch up Pakku," challenged the C. Avatar as he stomped his foot to the ground and waved both hands downward as he pulled them back to his body as he leaned back on his right leg and rapidly shot both hands upward at an angle, using the snow as well to catapult seven of the approaching tanks high into the skies into the ocean as they landed with a loud splash, "Cause with those I just dispatched, that makes 56," and without warning, the disguised blonde reached down to pull a water whip from the snow and lashed out behind him, sending ice projectiles from the whip and with keen accuracy, ten more soldiers bit the dust as their necks were pierced, "Correction, make that 66," smirked the man underneath the wraps as he turned towards Pakku, while said person shook his head and got his horse stance as he brought both of his fist close to his stomach and made one big scooping motion with his hands going high in the air with one hand higher than the other, causing a loud rumbling noise as he made the snow turn into a massive wave and send it crashing towards one the ships that were stationed at the broken wall. Making it sink under the water as it crash-landed on top of it.

Naruto just clapped his hands as he shook his head;

"That is quite impressive for an old timer," remarked the disguised Avatar

"That's quite a compliment coming from you," thanked the old master, "but if anyone here is an old timer, it would be you, considering you're too many centuries older than me," countered Pakku with a smirk, causing Naruto to laugh lightly

"Touché, Master Pakku," said the C. Avatar, "but so you know, the ship still counts as one." And both masters shared a laugh.

While the masters were sharing a moment, another group of water-benders catapulted another tank into the air, sailing across till it landed in front of Zhao with a small group of Fire Nation soldiers on war rhinoceros.

Zhao gets just minuscule of snow on his shoulder while the soldier on his right gets covered in snow from the impact of the tank that was just thrown, but the guard heats the snow and it melts off him in a cloud of steam.

"We'll be following this map to a very special location," informed the Admiral, then slowly, a dark grin appeared on his face, "And when we get there . . . we're going fishing."

- \ . / -

A flash of light appears where once Aang's body used to be, revealing the astral form of the Avatar, and right away, he noticed his pet lemur sleeping close by the pond;

"Momo!" shouted Aang happily but noticed that the animal hadn't heard him, "Momo?" he calls out again as he tried to shake him up, but notices his hands being see through, realization sinking in;

"Oh no . . . where's my body?" asks the young avatar as he looks around for his body but was quickly engulfed in a bright light once again and shoots out to the sky as it headed back towards his body, passing Katara and Naruto in the process;

"Look!" points Katara to the bright light, "That's gotta be Aang!"

The blonde just nodded his head and pulled the reigns, "Follow that light Shen!"

The light goes inside a cave and illuminates it brightly as Aang's spirit enters his body. Slowly waking up, he notices that he is tied up as he struggles to break free and abruptly, he sits up, forcefully acknowledging Zuko's presence;

"Welcome back," said the scarred teen

"Good to be back," growled Aang only to blow a large gust of air which throws Zuko against the side of the shelter and him out of the cave and into the snow. In his efforts to get away, Aang crawls like a worm but his efforts were in vain as Zuko still managed to catch the still-bound Aang;

"That won't be enough to escape," growled the former prince, but the sound of flapping wings was heard and both looked up to the sky to find Shen Lung descending upon them

"Naruto!" shouted Aang happily

As soon as the beast landed on the snow, Katara rapidly leaped off the dragon, ready to face Zuko for round two;

"You're here for a rematch," said Zuko arrogantly as he threw Aang to the side and got in his fighting stance

"Trust me Zuko, it's not going to be much of a rematch," as she made a scooping motion and brought her hands to block a flame shot with the snow, only to shove her hands forward and ensnare the scarred teen in nice before she raised her hands upward and harshly brought them down, knocking out the Fire prince.

Naruto quickly approached Aang as he pulled out a kunai and cut the ropes, allowing Aang to free himself;

"We need to get to the Oasis, the spirits are in trouble," urgently claimed Aang as he went and jumped behind Katara who was already mounted on the dragon, ready for takeoff, but both saw Naruto had picked up Zuko over his shoulder, all tied up with the same ropes he had used to bind Aang with;

"Naruto, what are you doing," asked Katara

"Taking a prisoner," responded Naruto as he threw Zuko over Shen's back

"Leave him here," proclaimed the girl, but Aang's value of life came into play,

"We can't," said Aang, "If we leave him here, he'll die."

Katara knew she couldn't argue with Aang, for he was stubborn once he was set on something and just nodded her head. Naruto jumped in between Aang and Katara, much to Aang's displeasure and headed back towards the village, hoping that it wasn't too late.

- / . \ -

"Master Pakku! Avatar!"

Both masters then looked up to the air and saw the flying bison heading their course with Sokka and Princess Yue on the saddle with a concern look on their faces;

"What's wrong Princess Yue?" asked Pakku

"Its Admiral Zhao," responded Sokka, and Yue took over the explanation, "He's heading towards the Spirit Oasis!"

This revelation made the old master's eyes to widen;

"The Spirits!"

"The spirits?" said Naruto looking at Pakku as he played dumb. Pakku just nodded his head at the Avatar;

"The Ocean and Moon spirits, they have been hidden in the Spirit Oasis behind the tower since they Northern Tribe was first build ten-thousand years ago," revealed the old master with his head down, "If the Fire Nation were to reach the spirits, we don't know what kind of chaos would ensure," then he looked at the Avatar, "Avatar, I ask of you to go and protect them."

"What about you? I can't leave you alone fighting all them," proclaimed the blonde avatar

"If you don't leave, then spirits will suffer," countered Pakku as he looked at the Avatar in the eye, having a small staring contest till Naruto backed off and nodded his head;

"Alright, but you make sure you don't die," said Naruto before he jumped into the air to land on the saddle behind Sokka and Yue.

"Yip-yip!" said Sokka and the bison took off in haste towards the Oasis

Master Pakku watches them fly away into the distance and once they were off his eye sight, he turned around to square off alone against three incoming tanks which are closely supported by three infantry platoons. Exercising his mastery over his art, he cuts the treads off all three tanks with jets of ice. As he cripples the Fire Nation armor, the infantry close in around him. With a motion he raises them up and encases them all in ice. Then, mustering all his might, he raises a water tornado; Pakku rides at the pinnacle of the tornado as he brushes aside both fire bolts and Fire Nation soldiers till he disperses the water tornado down, washing away any nearby soldiers.

- / . \ -

Back on the Oasis, the fish were swimming peacefully until the moon spirit was forcefully snatched out of the water and was bagged. Zhao held the bag in front of him while in the background; the moon began to bleed red causing all the water-benders warriors began to lose their bending abilities. However, the water-benders weren't the only one who felt its side effects;

A moan of pain reached Sokka's ears and turned towards Yue, who held her head in pain;

"Yue, what's wrong?" asks Sokka with concern on his voice

"I feel faint," responded the princess weakly

Back with Katara and Naruto's Kage Bunshin, Aang was feeling the same symptoms that Yue was feeling, causing the doppelganger to pull on the reigns harder, ordering the beast to fly faster towards the spirit oasis.

After making the pain go away, she looked at her two companions, "I owe the Moon Spirit my Life."

"What do you mean?" asked the disguised Avatar

"When I was born I was very sick and very weak. Most babies cry when they're born, but . . . "she trailed off as she looked to the side, "I was born as if I were asleep, my eyes closed. Our healers did everything they could, but nothing worked. They told my mother and father I was going to die," Then she looked towards the red moon, "My father pleaded with the spirits to save me, that night, beneath the full moon, he brought me to the oasis and placed me in the pond. My dark hair turned white, I opened my eyes and began to cry and they knew I would live . . . That's why my mother named me Yue, for the moon, to honor her."

- \ . / -

Zhao and his entourage by the pond in the oasis, "I am," Zhao raises raising his fist to the heavens, "A legend now! The Fire Nation will for generations tell stories about the great Zhao who darkened the moon! They will call me Zhao the Conqueror! Zhao the Moon Slayer! ZHAO THE INVINCIBLE!"

"I seriously doubt that!"

A voice shouted out in the distance, causing Zhao to look up and see a giant bison and a dragon descending onto the grass, with Sokka, Yue and the Avatar jumping off the saddle ready to attack with Naruto, Katara and Aang jumping off the dragon with their weapons drawn as well;

"Don't bother," said Zhao as he holds up the bag high with his fist right next to the Moon Spirit. Aang then drops his staff and raises his hands in surrender.

"Zhao! Don't!" said Aang, trying to reason with the man

"It's my destiny . . . to destroy the Moon . . . and the Water Tribe along with you," claimed Zhao, with his glare filled with anger directed at the Crimson Avatar

"You can harm me all you want, but do not harm that spirit," offered the blonde Avatar with his hands up in surrender as well, "Destroying the moon won't just hurt the Water Tribe. It will hurt everyone . . . Including you. Without the moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world."

"He is right, Zhao!"said Iroh as he entered the scene

Narrowing his eyes at the general, he spoke with a cold, calm voice, "General Iroh, why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?"

"I'm no traitor, Zhao, the Fire Nation needs the moon too. We all depend on the balance . . . Whatever you do to that spirit I'll unleash on you ten-fold!" the Dragon of the West proclaims as he assumes a fire bending stance with a glare of his own, "LET IT GO, NOW!"

Iroh and Zhao lock eyes for a moment and then Zhao falters, lowering the bag. He kneels and releases the fish back into the water. The red light of the moon vanishes, replaced by its normal color. Zhao's face is quickly overtaken by a look of madness and desperation. With a cry of rage he stands and smites the water with a blast of fire. Iroh recoils in horror. Aang's and Naruto's face is briefly illuminated by the fire. Both Avatars look up to witness the moon wink out of existence.

Iroh, enraged, springs instantly to the attack. Crossing the foot bridge, Iroh fires blast after blast. Zhao blocks one blast and backs away while Iroh expertly dispatches Zhao's four guards. Zhao looks on in horror as his men are wiped out by the aging General with such ease and precision. Seeing that his pursuer was occupied, he flees the scene.

Iroh standing over the guards, who struggle to get up, turns back to the pond where the black fish swims frantically and while the white fish, with a huge gash in its side, floats limp on the pond. Reaching the pond, Iroh gently lifts the white fish from the water, an expression of sadness on his face, while everyone else close their eyes and lower their heads in defeat, except for one.

"There's no hope now, it's over," said Yue as she sobbed on Sokka's shoulder

"**No . . . it's not over yet,**" said the Crimson Avatar as he opened his eyes, glowing red as he spoke in a demonic voice with his markings glowing as well, with Aang following suit as his own markings began to glow as well, making everyone around them step back except Katara, who moved to follow, but she is stilled by a halting motion from Naruto as they both began to walk towards the pond, but came to a stop at the edge when a blob of water began to rise, causing everyone else to tense up only for those that were on the festivities of their arrival to stare in shock when they saw the robed figure standing on the water;

"How may I be of assistance, Master," said Inari, now shocking everyone as he bowed down to one knee in front of Naruto;

"**My student,**" began Naruto, maintaining the sage's real name a secret, "**Lend me your power to get rid of the trespassers that dare to conquer your domain.**"

Raising his head up, the sage into the eye's of his former master, "The power of the oceans, are yours to command," and with that, the former student of the Avatar disintegrated into water, giving passage to his former as master and the avatar walked into the middle of the pond and stood there with their arms in prayer, back to back. Naruto, who stood in front of the black fish, looks down at the spirit, and its eyes and white mark on its spine began to glow red as a thin red aura layer appears around Aang and Naruto. By now, the whole pond glowed a bright red color and suddenly, both Avatars dropped into the pond as if the bottom had fallen out of it, causing him to disappear. Meanwhile all of this was happening; no one noticed Zuko had broken out of his confines to search for the one that orchestrated his assassination.

The water in the pool around the oasis itself begins to glow a deep red veined with white. The glow spreads from behind the citadel to encompass the entire citadel area of the city. A huge, incandescent red wave rushes under the footbridge as if some huge creature was moving underneath it. Appa stands on the oasis while Shen stood on its hind legs, but despite his height, he is dwarfed by the creature that rises from the pool, the citadel and the city visible beyond it.

The red, white veined creature is a huge fish like being. At its center is a red/white bubble in which Aang can be seen with the Crimson Avatar towering behind him, spreading their arms wide into the air in total synchronization, with the giant looking fish creature mimicking the movement in total integration.

- / . \ -

Back in the city, Zhao tries to escape. Zuko shoots a fireball at him and shocked that Zuko is alive, Zhao confirms he tried to have him killed because of him being the Blue Spirit and for releasing the Avatar. Zuko says he had no choice, but Zhao tells Zuko he should have accepted his fate as a failure and a disgrace. Zuko continues to battle Zhao.

- \ . / -

The Ocean Spirit towers over the citadel, its arms still spread wide while its red spirit lighting the city like a beacon. The Spirit begins to move down into the city, coming across Master Pakku and his water-benders, who instantly bow to the floor in honor of their god. However, across the canal, some Fire Nation soldiers raise their spears in defiance, but are swept away by a wall of water sent by the Ocean Spirit. With both Avatars inside the body of the Ocean Spirit, as they flailed theirs arms about, directing the power of the Ocean Spirit against the violator's of the Moon Spirit and the Water Tribe City.

Fire Nation tanks fire blasts of fire at the Ocean Spirit, but they couldn't stop the marching spirit as the balls of fire were absorbed with no effect. The Spirit/Avatars retaliated by scooping its arms upward, causing the soldiers and tanks being washed away as if they were toys. The Ocean Spirit passes by the Water Tribe citizens who make obeisance to their lord. Cut to the Fire Nation army in full retreat, trying desperately to escape the vengeance of a living Spirit. The Ocean Spirit reaches the main canal in front of the third wall and stops its advance. While inside the bubble, Naruto and Aang look up ahead and see some of the ships stationed at the main wall, causing a frown to appear on their face. Spreading both their arms with their hands in a claw like motion; slowly raising them into the air while the spirit still mimics his movements, causing the wind around start to pick up as the whistles of wind coursing through the city were heard, creating a mini cyclone in front of the spirit as the water began to mix with it while the Avatars/The Ocean Spirit placed one hand on low and the other high, maintain it in control till Naruto/The Ocean Spirit pushed it forward onto what was left of the Fire Nation soldiers that had infiltrated the city. Blown away by the powerful winds, the ships being picked up right off the water by the passing cyclone as the manifestation of the Ocean Spirit melted down and swam towards the ocean, passing through the destruction his attack had unleashed upon them.

- / . \ -

Iroh slowly places the dead Moon Spirit fish back into the pond.

"It's too late, it's dead," Katara says mournfully.

Suddenly, Iroh looks up at Yue in wonder, opening his eyes in surprise, "You have been touched by the Moon Spirit," he pointed out, "Some of its life is in you!"

Slowly catching at his meaning, Yue's eyes widen as well;

''Yes, you're right, it gave me life," confirmed the Princess as she stood up, "Maybe I can give it back," she theorized as she made way towards Iroh, who had once again picks up the dead fish., only to gasp slightly as she feels a strong grip out of desperation on her wrist;

"No! You don't have to do that!" pleaded Sokka, but Yue just lowered her head as she closed her eyes;

"It's my duty Sokka," said Yue without emotion

"I won't let you," defied Sokka, "Your father told me to protect you."

"I have to do this," said Yue with conviction as she got her hand out of Sokka's grip and placed her hands over the injured koi fish and it glowed white for a few seconds, but as the glow stopped, she collapsed into Sokka's arms, dead as the fish in Iroh's hands.

"NOOOO!" Sokka yelled, "She's gone," sobbed Sokka as he held her close to him, "She's gone."

- \ . / -

After the cyclone had died down, the incandescent red glow of the Ocean Spirit flows out past the city wall in front of the Fire Navy fleet and reforms and, towering over the fleet, and reaches out towards to ships and pushes the two back out to see at amazing speed, crashing among other ships as they continued their course. Then the Avatars raise both their hands in the air and brought it down in a slicing motion in the bubble which is mimicked by the Ocean Spirit, as it makes the same slicing motion cutting down the remaining ships. Seeing that they were surrounded by many ships, the both of them brought their hands out and rotated them in a circular motion, causing the surrounding waters around the war ships to being their spinning, and as they continued their rotating, they began to pick up the pace a bit causing the water to speed its motion as the surface of the water began to get sucked, creating a maelstrom as they both watched the ships being sucked into the whirlpool.

Back at the Oasis, Yue's body slowly began to fade out and the koi fish began to glow which prompted Iroh to place it in the pond. Once it returned to the water, the pond glowed brightly before an ethereal Yue appeared wearing an elaborate outfit, but what made them stare was the fact that she was floating and glowing.

"I'll always be with you Sokka," said the new moon spirit as she leaned in and kissed the warrior good bye, the kiss lasting till faded out and the others looked upwards towards the sky, watching as the moon returned to its proper place.

The ocean spirit saw the moon had returned as both Avatars noticed the sudden light from the skies, stopping its rampage as it dispersed the whirlpool, leaving barely a few ships intact. The water manifestation suddenly dissolved into water and receded back into the city, not before depositing Aang on a column of what was left of the front wall by La and the Crimson Avatar. After leaving the sphere, the young Avatar was still a little disoriented, but was able to hear the last message left by Naruto;

"**Avatar Aang . . . I leave the rest in your capable hands . . . **"

- / . \ -

In the middle of the city, Zuko and Zhaou were still battling it out and the younger bender was winning as he had Zhaou on the ground, having the Admiral notice that the moon had return, putting him in a state of shock, but didn't last long as the Ocean Spirit grabs Zhao and begins to take him away. Zuko looked on in shock but quickly composed himself and did the honorable thing and tried to save Zhaou's life, however, the arrogant fool refused the help and was dragged down into the water by the spirit, no trace of a body left when the glowing subsided.

Sunrise had arrived, and the village of the Northern Tribe was left in ruins, but the victory was theirs. Standing on top of the second wall was Katara with Master Pakku;

"I've decided to go to the South Pole," announced the master to his student, "some other water-benders and healers want to join me," by now he turns and faces Katara, "It's time help build our sister tribe."

"But what about Aang?" she asked her master, "He still needs to learn water-bending."

Chuckling softly, "Well then, he better get used to calling you, Master Katara.

On a different part of the village, Chief Arnook was accompanied by Sokka and Naruto,- who had already dispelled the clone and gained all of its memories, - as they still kept staring at the barely visible moon;

"The spirits gave me a vision when Yue was born. I saw a brave young woman . . . become the moon spirit," revealed Arnook with sadness

"You must be very proud of her," commented Naruto, which got him a nod

"So proud . . . yet so sad too," said Arnook before he walked back towards his tower, leaving the two alone.

"Naruto . . . "said Sokka suddenly, making said blonde turn at him;

"Yea Sokka?" and got a huge surprise when Sokka slowly went to his knees and bowed his head towards him;

"I wish for you to train me," announced Sokka, shocking his blonde friend;

"What is your reason for doing this?" asked Naruto, testing the young youth as he saw him raise his head with sadness and determination;

"I wasn't strong enough to protect the person I came to cherish, and watched her die in front of me helplessly," declared the young warrior, "I'm tired of being weak since I've already lost two important people in my life, I cannot afford to lose anymore of my precious peole, for you, Katara and Aang are the only family left that I've got."

Hearing his reasons, the blonde couldn't help but smile, as he could clearly see the will of fire the late Sandaime Hokage used to reach to him when he was younger. Bending to one knee, the blonde placed a hand on Sokka's shoulder;

"I must warn you Sokka, I'm very demanding of perfection when it comes to training," announce the blonde, causing Sokka's eyes to widen with a smile on his face, "I will push you beyond your braking point, think you can handle it?"

Nodding his head at a rapid pace, he grabbed onto Naruto's hands shook it;

"I will take on everything you dish out at me!" declare the wolf-tailed teen, causing Naruto to laugh and look at him with a glint in his eyes;

"We shall see," said Naruto as he stood up, "Now, if you excuse me, there is someone I have to see."

And without warning, Naruto disappeared in a whirl of wind with leaves, leaving Sokka astonished with the trick his blonde friend used.

Katara was standing alone after Master Pakku had gone to go search for Aang to give him a final lesson, thinking of everything that had happened in the past few months as she stared into the distance where the sun was still rising;

"Katara."

The girl was snapped out of her thoughts as a voice called out to her from behind. Turning around, she saw that it was Naruto himself, standing in his battle torn black outfit, with her necklace in hand;

"I told you I always keep my promises," declared Naruto as he extended his hand out with the necklace exposed in his hand. Katara just slowly walked towards him till they stood a few inches apart; slowly she took the necklace from his hand and clutched it close to her heart before she wrapped it around her neck once again.

Both of them stood in silence as they both gazed into their eyes once again as the gap between them grew smaller, with their arms slowly rising till they found their respective places, Katara's arms wrapping themselves around his neck while the blonde's arms wrapped themselves around her waist, lifting her off her feet as they both hugged each other tight with Katara burying her face at arc of his neck. They stayed like that for a while till they heard chattering from behind, lowering Katara back to the ground with their arms still around each other, they both turned to see the lemur looking at them with curiosity, causing Katara to giggle as she detached herself from Naruto;

"You too Momo," said the girl and the lemur jumped into the air, only to sit on Naruto's shoulder. Katara went under Naruto's arm and wrapped both her arms around his waist while Naruto placed his arm around the girl's shoulder as they both stared at the sun rising in the sky;

"_The battle may have been won,_" thought the blonde, "_But the war is far from over, isn't that right . . . . . Sasuke._"

- \ . / -

Back in the palace of the Fire Nation, inside the throne room, a figure stood behind as he looked down at a young girl wearing the traditional Fire Nation wardrobe, with her black hair tied in a small topknot as it was held by small crown in the shape of flame, kneeling in front of her lord with her head down;

"Iroh is a traitor and your brother is a failure . . . . I have a task for you . . ." said the Fire Lord, causing the young girl's eyes to open, revealing cold amber eyes with red lips turning into a sinister smirk. Behind her, a figure with a black robe black robe with the insignia of a golden flame in the front stood passively with his hood overshadowing his face minus his lower jaw; (**A/N:** just think if Roku's robe with a hoodie)

"Lord Ozai . . . allow me to accompany her, there are some loose ends that need to be . . . taken care of," said the robed figure

Ozai stayed quiet contemplating at the hidden meaning, but then nodded his head slowly, "Very well. You may go with her."

Raising his head lightly, you could see that the person had closed his eyes for a moment till he opened them again, revealing blood color eyes with intersecting eclipses.

"_Soon Naruto, we shall settle our differences . . . . once and for all._"

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TBC

Annnnndddddddd CUT! Finally! The first book is done and what a challenge it has been. I would like to thank all of you who were patient for the coming update(s) of the final arc, and glad to hear that the first part was very well liked. I will try to bring you guys more updates, but can't promise anything.

Also, for those of you who were waiting for this, Azula finally makes an appearance, but once again, I will not say anything as to what I have in stored for her, you going to have to read and find out.

And lastly, i do apologize for the grammar mistakes i've been making, but give me some redit, i've written more than half of this story while i was pilled off my mind from the pain killers i have been given XD

But anyways, till next time,

Kyu no Ken


	11. Book II Chapter 8

Welcome to the first chapter of Book II. I want to thank everyone that has been reading this story since the beginning and to those that have been waiting patiently for the upcoming chapter of this story. It has been a rough beginning of the year for me but I'm still managing to go by. I know some of you may have thought I had abandoned this story, but it's not easy working and being college student. But thank you ya'll for being patient and as promised here is the chapter.

(A/N): explanation at the end of the chapter every time this is posted

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or Avatar: the Last Airbender

Hits: 58,089 C2: 15 Favs: 304 Alerts: 215

Avatar Timeline:

Episode "The Avatar State" will be Narutofied

Episode "The Swamp" will come before the "Cave of two lovers" and "Return to Omashu" as Naruto first comes across it.

Episode "The Cave of Two Lovers" will be Narutofied halfway the episode

Episode "Return to Omashu" will be Narutofied and cannon at the end

And now . . . . . On with the show!

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_Water_

_Earth_

_Fire_

_Air_

_Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony,_

_Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked,_

_Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them,_

_But when the world needed him most, he vanished._

_One hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, _

_An air-bender named Aang, _

_But unknown to us, the avatar of legend, a man named Naruto had reawakened._

_And although Aang's air-bending skills are amazing and Naruto may be the crimson avatar, they both have a lot to learn before they're ready to save anyone._

_But . . ._

_I believe Aang and Naruto can save the world._

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Previously on Avatar of the Four Dragons:

_The blonde headed towards the door and opened it slightly, making sure no one was outside, he opened it completely and before he took his step, Inari said one more piece;_

"_Ten-ten would have wanted you to live your life and find happiness, Naruto, instead of pinning yourself to her memory."_

/ . \

_"Iroh is a traitor and your brother is a failure . . . . I have a task for you . . ." said the Fire Lord, causing the young girl's eyes to open, revealing cold amber eyes with red lips turning, her face maintaining a neutral look._

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Encounters from the Past;

Naruto's New Promise

Two whole months have gone by since the aftermath of the North Pole and the city itself had being going a quick pace towards recovery from all the total damage it had received during the battle. But while the city was repairing itself, out heroes were on a ship (**A/N**: the ship resembles a Viking ship) commanded by Master Pakku, whose destination was the South Pole. However, during these two whole months, Naruto wasted no time in fulfilling his promise to Sokka in training him to become a better warrior, going to extreme measures to do so and this voyage was no excuse for the Southern warrior to slack off as he was training now on the sails long pole doing chin ups while Naruto just stood there, making sure his student doesn't fall;

"Come on Sokka, you just got 2 more to go," commented the blonde lazily as he dug into his ear

"Damn . . . Sadist . . ." grunted Sokka as he pulled himself up and slowly let his body hang, sweat pouring down his face, panting heavily before he struggled to do the last chin up, but didn't had the strength to do so as he let his body hang loosely in the air

"What's the matter boy? Can't handle my training?" asked Naruto mockingly as he squatted on top of Sokka

Having a tick mark growing on the side of his head, he looked up with fire in his eyes;

"You call this training! Ever since you began to train me you had me doing inhumane amounts of working exercises that could have crippled me!" shouted Sokka

Raising an eyebrow in boredom, he stared at his apprentice;

"Is doing chin ups with light weights attached to your ankles too much for you?" he asked, only to make Sokka get more infatuated with him even more;

"You bastard! You call attaching a hundred and fifty pounds ice blocks to my feet while doing three hundred chin ups light!" yelled Sokka as he pulled himself up to scream at his sensei's face as he spat on him with his yelling. Naruto grew a tick mark himself as he got fed up with Sokka's constant whining and got on his student's face as well;

"Are you man or a whinny little bitch!"

"You questioning my manhood you asshole!"

"Maybe I wouldn't question it if you didn't whine and complain so damn much!"

Down below, Master Pakku, Aang, Katara and the whole crew looked at the scene with large sweat-drops developing in the back of their heads as the two were still engaged in the verbal assaults;

"Isn't Naruto suppose to be the more mature out of your lot?" asks Pakku as he turned to his former student

"My guess is that his patience has been tested ny my brother's stupidity and has ran out," responded Katara weakly as she face her former master, giving a weak laugh while Aang just shook his head with his eyes closed. Then suddenly, they heard a scream and turned in time to watch Sokka crashed onto the floor, creating a nice dent on the floor due to the weights attached to his ankles. The Katara and Aang approached the young warrior only to find him twitching in pain;

"Ow . . . "

Naruto skillfully landed next to the group only to receive a smack on the back of his head as soon as he landed. While rubbing the back of his head, the blonde turned around to find the angry water-bending girl glaring at him;

"What did you do to him?" she asked him menacingly

"I didn't do nothing, the idiot let go of the sail pole to try and strangle me only for him to realize a little too late that he was hanging and came crashing down," explained the blonde, as he continued to rub his head pouting, "Damn, did you have to hit me hard?"

"Oh you'll live, you big baby," teased Katara with a small smirk on her face as she turned around and headed towards her brother to heal whatever injuries he had caused himself only to find him he had already gotten up to his feet with barely any scratches on him, surprising Katara greatly while Naruto examined the his student's physique;

"_I'm still amazed by how far Sokka has progressed in just two months of non-stop training,_" thought the blonde as he watched Katara checking on her brother for any injuries while Aang dissolved the large ice cubes into water, "_Not only that, in two months he has mastered two forms of the wing chun style, something that took me at least almost two years to master due how relaxing the style demands the body to be,_" he finished his thoughts with pride, only to be brought out of his thoughts by said apprentice;

"Don't go daydreaming on me, we still have to finish the routine," said Sokka as he stretched his sore arms as he walked towards an isolated part of the ship and stood still with his feet together. Then he separated his toes to the side then lightly lifted his ankles a bit and parted them outward, and then he sunk his body down as his knees automatically almost came close together with just a fist size length gap between the knees. His hands balled into fists as he put them at the side of his chest with his elbows pointing backwards with his shoulders dropped, relaxed as he melted into the position. His back flat as a board as he raised his head lightly up while rolling his hips forward, causing him to feel a mild stretch of his spine as it was put in a straight line instead of its usual S shape.

Aang and Katara were curious by this, for this is the first time they both had seen Sokka's actual training, instead of the usual training/workouts that Naruto had put him through. Said blonde, as if reading their minds, came up to them from behind and began explaining as to what Sokka was doing;

"What you're seeing is the fighting form of an old style that has been forgotten."

"What style is that?" asked Aang as he now looked at the blonde

"Wing chun," was the blonde's simply reply

"Wing chun?" questioned Katara, gaining a nod in response, "What's that?"

"Wing chun is a fighting style that utilizes both, striking and grappling, while specializing in close-range combat," explained Naruto, "the theory behind to what Sokka is doing for the first two weeks of training, was to gain a perfect Wing Chun stance, for when done correctly, you're like a piece of bamboo; firm but flexible, rooted but yielding. Allowing you to either deflect external forces or redirect them away.

Also, balance is related to the structure for a well-balanced body recovers more quickly from stalled attacks and the structure is maintained. Wing Chun is also somewhat of meditation for it trains the sensitivity and awareness of one's own body movement derived from muscular, tendon, and articular sources," explained the blonde further, "And as you can see from my stupid apprentice's position, Wing Chun favors a high, narrow stance with the elbows kept close to the body. Within the stance, arms are positioned across the vitals of the centerline. All attacks and counter-attacks are initiated from this firm, stable base. The style rarely compromises structure for more powerful attacks because this is believed to create defensive openings which may be exploited," explained the blonde further, causing the two teens to look back at Sokka in amazement of the style he is learning, but then Katara turned towards the blonde again;

"I understand that structure is a fundamental necessity, but why is it so demanding on this particular style?" asks the girl

"Because structure is viewed as important, not only for reasons of defense, but also for attack," responded Naruto, "When the practitioner is effectively "rooted", or aligned so as to be braced against the ground, the force of the hit is believed to be far more devastating. Additionally, the practice of "settling" one's opponent to brace them more effectively against the ground aids in delivering as much force as possible towards the body of his opponent."

"So from what you're saying is that instead of using external energy, which would be muscle power, Sokka would be using the ground as his source of energy, since he would be rooted to the ground, unmovable," summarized Aang with high curiosity

"Yes and no," responded Naruto, "it is true that him being rooted into the ground will be a source of energy, but also we use our center to draw upon that energy, the dantian or center of gravity, for the power generated from the ground torques its way to the waist, where it gets a major boost at the body's center point, giving the power required to deliver a powerful strike."

"So the energy is what causes the damage on impact, it penetrates the surface, damaging the insides of the opponent," said Katara as she grimaced at the thought of hurting someone from the inside out

Naruto just shook his head, "No, Katara, what the energy does is enhance the strike to make it a bit more powerful and to gain that; you have to be very subtle. That's why relaxation of the muscles is highly demanded, for wing chun is soft and fluent like water."

By now, Sokka had began to do the first firm of the style and Aang and Katara noticed that every strike or hand movement that the wolf-tailed water made, they were always placed in front or close towards the center of his body;

"Naruto, why does it look like he's trying to protect his center?" question Aang

"That's because he is, he's protecting his own center while creating an opening towards his opponent's own centerline while engaging," said Naruto as he saw Sokka about half way done through the first form

"Then why the beatings with the stick you been giving him at the end of almost every training session?" questions Aang as he crossed his arms with a frown, but the blonde just shrugged his shoulders

"Body training, I'm raising his pain tolerance while toughening his body," responded Naruto

"And the exercises like push ups, crunches, chin ups and such?"

"To build his cardio, he'll be able to last longer in battle. Since last time I sparred with him, he was beaten because he never had done any real training and since endurance . . . . pretty much sucked," summarized Naruto.

Aang just made an 'Oh' motion, and then he looked at Naruto once again;

"And what about the exercise where you have him surrounded by clones and dodging concrete bowling balls?"

"Develops his 6th sense or danger sense as well as build his dodging skills and quite frankly, he has gotten faster in these past two months with these exercises," said the blonde

"Exercises! What you have him going through sounds more like torture than training," exclaimed Aang hotly, but only got a glare in response from the blonde

"He's my trainee and I will help him however I can to achieve his goal," retorted Naruto, "And if you don't want to partake in my training regime, I suggest that you keep your mouth shut."

Aang kept his mouth hut after that and both had turned back to see Sokka finishing up the last steps of the first form and slowly stand up to his feet, sweat pouring down his face as his legs shook uncontrollably. Katara went towards her brother to help him stand and check if he was ok;

"Why do his legs shake that badly?" questions Aang worriedly

"The stance stretches the tendons and ligaments beyond their limit, also uses the muscles in the legs that haven't been put use and strengthens the knee and ankle joints, reducing the chances of joint problems at old age," said the blonde, causing Aang to widen his eyes slightly in surprise at the beneficial effects the art gives to the body with the years of practice.

However, all of them were interrupted by a mocking laughter. Turning around, they saw a group of three arrogant young warriors wearing the traditional wardrobe; the only difference was that they wore a vest instead of a jacket looking at them, mockingly as they sneered at Sokka;

"Can we help you gentleman?" questioned Naruto as he crossed his arms and boringly glared at them

"We heard your conversation about that fool's fighting style and I say that he's full of shit, I could beat him easily," said one of the teens with brown hair, causing Sokka and Aang look at them in anger and were about to retort, but Naruto simply raised his arm to the side, silencing them both before they began to voice out their own opinions;

"Well then, how about a friendly spar between you and my apprentice, to find out who's the better fighter out of the two," suggested Naruto, making the gaang to look at him crazy, causing the arrogant young warriors to get a little defensive;

"And why should one of us even bother to fight him," retorted another teen with black hair defensively, causing Naruto to chuckle

"Because you come over and insinuated that you were better than my student, so here's your chance to prove it," replied the blonde seriously as he glared at the three, causing them to hesitate accepting the challenge. Seeing this, the blonde decided to give one last push at their egos, "What say you? Are you either going to step up and back up your words or are you like the rest, all talk and no balls?"

At this, the last teen that was bald and seemed to be the leader of the group, stepped up, anger clearly showing in his face, "I'll fight him and show you he's the one that's weak!"

"Good," simply said the blonde as he turned towards Sokka and walked towards him;

"What are you doing? Arranging a fight against him!" growled Sokka as he fully stood to his feet, but Naruto simply stared at him passively, "I'm doing this for various reasons, but my most important one is to see how much you progressed in this past two months, or aren't you curious yourself?" said Naruto calmly, making the wolf-tailed warrior grow quiet

"I'm curious myself to see the progress of my training," admitted Sokka quietly as he stared at his hands. Naruto just grinned and placed his hand on the young warrior's shoulder, "Now's your chance to prove it to yourself Sokka."

"You think I can beat him?" asked a doubtful Sokka, but his only response was a smile from his master, "I know you can, but remember what I said to you back at the city, whether you win or lose is not important, what's important is whether you found your worth."

"Are you going to fight or you going to cower from the fight?" shouted the leader, making Naruto scowl before he turned back towards his pupil;

"Do me a favor and put him in his place," said Naruto with seriousness. Sokka just nodded his head as he walked towards his opponent. Katara then walked next to Naruto;

"You sure it's ok for him to fight?" asks Katara worriedly about her brother's wellbeing, but the blonde just looked at her with a gentle smile on his face;

"Believe in him Katara, just like I believed in you when you faced Master Pakku," replied Naruto before he turned his sights back towards the two combatants, with Katara and Aang watching the coming fight on the sidelines.

The bald teen and Sokka faced one another, with the bald teen setting the ground rules;

"Here are the rules, no interference from either side, no pok –"but was cut off rudely by Sokka,

"Cut the bullshit and fight," said Sokka as he went into his stance, resting his whole body weight on his right leg, with his left leg lazily placed in front of him loosely and back side flat as he stretched his neck and rolled his hips forward . His left arm extended forward with hand formed in a chopping motion and his elbow tucked in close to his center. His right hand placed in front of his chest in a prayer like motion, ready as he waited for his opponent to start the fight;

"Ready to lose aren't you," bragged the teen as he got into his stance with his left hand extended forward in a claw like motion with his right fist cocked back right beside his abdomen;

Both fighters didn't say a word and stared at one another, with the sounds of waves hitting the boat, giving the signal to begin the fight as the bald warrior quickly rushed in and jumped into the air doing a scissors kick which he missed as Sokka took a step back and tried to recuperate by kicking Sokka in the knee once he landed on his feet, but was also unsuccessful. The bald warrior sent a straight left punch, but was block when Sokka placed his forearm forward on mid-strike, then tried to attack with an elbow strike sent to the chest, but was deflected when the wolf-tailed warrior folded his arm in front of him to redirect the attack away from his frame as he slightly turned his whole body to the side. Suddenly, the bald teen tried chop Sokka from above, but his attack missed as Sokka side stepped to the side and parried another left straight punch with his right forearm and quickly Sokka went to the attack as he stepped in front of his opponent and sent his own chain of punches, but were blocked except for one that managed to pass through the defenses and landed in the abdomen. The bald teen felt the hit and quickly tried to get a hold of Sokka's arm with a tiger claw, but Sokka just as quickly managed to bring his limb back and continue his attack with his furry of chain punches, but were parried to the side as his opponent used his own forearms to swat them away and tried to sneak attack a tiger claw into Sokka's face, but Sokka successfully managed to block that strike as he once again folded his left arm in front of him to stop the strike firm on his forearm and countered attack by unfolding and stretching his arm out, causing the bald warrior to step back to keep his balance since he couldn't stop Sokka's unfolding limb, but quickly deflected the arm with an elbow strike and shot his arms out with double tiger claws, but unable to hit his target as Sokka leaned a back a bit to evade the attack. After Sokka gained back his balance, he stepped forward with a punch but was parried upward and retracted his fist back to send a right strike and was also parried. Figuring that Sokka had no defenses, he reached out to grab his neck but Sokka side-stepped to the left;

"_Damn!_" thought Sokka as he soon began to regret side-stepping, which it gave his opponent a chance to use a rise kick to his head, but Sokka barely managed to block the kick when he brought his forearms in front of him, causing him to slightly loose his balance, which his opponent noticed as he tried again to kick Sokka's feet, but narrowly missed as his leg landed between Sokka's feet as said warrior stepped to the side to get on his opponent's back and capitalized as he used his elbow and shoulder to attack, hitting his target hard in the back as it caused the bald warrior to grunt for air as he stumbled forward and watched Sokka going after him to capitalize, but tried to surprise him as he sent a high mule kick, but Sokka successfully managed to block the attack with his hand, causing him to make take a couple steps back to gain some distance between the two.

Aang and Katara just watched with amazement, both unaware of someone else that was watching the fight from afar while Naruto smiled with pride as the fight went on. Aang and Katara did not believe that this was the same Sokka that they have been journeying with. He was almost the complete opposite of the whining, no battle skills and hot headed Sokka that they were used to. This Sokka was collected, skillful, tactful, and quiet;

Both fighters circled one another as they resumed their stances, trying to find any openings in their defenses, but if one was to look closer, the look on the fighters told a different story, one held a passive and clam look while the other held a look of nervousness and doubt. Not wasting time any further, the bald warrior jumped in front of Sokka with a wild arc swing of his arm, but Sokka blocked it, along with the next arc swing, except this time, instead of parrying the attack, he held on tight onto the wrist of his opponent and waited for the next attack, which was a right straight punch, but Sokka, brought the arm of his opponent down to block his opponent's attack with his own arm as he trapped both arms with one hand, giving Sokka an opportunity to attack as the his adversary was wide open for an attack, but his grip wasn't strong enough to hold him as his opponent broke the grip and attacked Sokka again with a double tiger claw, but like the previous time, the attack was unsuccessful when Sokka folded both of his arms in front of him and block the attack with his forearms and sneakily sent a kick which was block when the bald warrior blocked the kick with his left forearm while he sent a right jab only to get parried down by Sokka's right and countered with a left straight punch, but his punch was blocked by his opponent's elbow and made his own counter as he tried to use his tiger claw again to get a hold onto Sokka's midsection. Sokka sensing the intention, he blocked/parried with his left forearm as he rotated his right arm to get a hold onto his opponent's wrist and sent a finger jab strike towards his opponent's neck, but the bald warrior successfully stepped aside, causing Sokka to miss and get an elbow strike into his midsection, causing him to stumble back and give his opponent enough room to deliver a spinning kick to the side of Sokka's face;

"Sokka!" shouted Katara and Aang looked ready to intervene, but was held back by Naruto as he placed a hand on the young Avatar's shoulder. Aang looked at Naruto, who held a faceless expression and shook his head at the young monk. Katara watched as Naruto stopped Aang as he remained calmed and continued to watch as he turned towards the fight. The girl, worriedly, turned her sights back to the fight as well and prayed her brother didn't get hurt.

"Had enough runt?"taunted the arrogant warrior as he stood in his stance again and watched Sooka slowly get up as he wiped a trail of blood from his lip. Sokka just turned back towards his opponent and wordlessly resumed his stance.

Aggravated, the bald warrior rushed in to attack once again, but Sokka was faster as he closed the gap between them and sent a kick into his chest and knocked the wind out of him, but Sokka didn't let up as he sent a second kick into the chest of his opponent, sending him into the wall where he cornered him and began his assault with a straight right hand and a right hook, followed a chain of punches into the chest, causing his opponent to grunt in pain with each strike. Desperately, the arrogant warrior threw a right hook, but Sokka reacted quickly by intercepting it with his left forearm in mid strike while he stroke with a right fist into the mid-section of his opponent and pulled him into him to knee him, but Sokka wasn't able to as his opponent got a hold of his shirt but didn't let him capitalize as he made his opponent fall back as he tried to throw him into the ground, but stopped halfway when his opponent used his own strength to stop Sokka's push and tried to get him off of him when he grabbed on the back of Sokka's vest and Sokka did the same thing, but with Sokka having more leverage, was able to throw him off into the ground as pulled him with a twist of his body and rapidly mounted him to deliver hard rights into the face;

"Do you yield?" growled Sokka with his fist cocked back, but got a defiant no. Sokka again delivered a hard right and asked the same question.

The two goons that accompanied one of the combatants quickly rushed to interfere in the fight by trying to jump Sokka from behind, but were quickly put to a stop when a small wave slammed in between Sokka and the two goons, freezing into a small wall between the two parties;

"What do two think you're doing?" asked Pakku as he slowly walked into the scene with three other warriors, coldly glaring at the two warriors that were about to interfere, "Have you no honor to comply with the rules of the fight and accept defeat when he has proven he is better."

By now, Sokka had released his hold on his opponent and allowed his opponent to get up, gaining Pakku's attention as his cold glared bore into him;

"As for you, your behavior will no longer be tolerated," said Pakku, "Your arrogance brings shame to the rest of your comrades. The three of you will be held inside the brigs till we reach the South Pole, where I will decide your punishment, take them away," ordered Master Pakku and watched as his warriors took them away to the brigs, then he turned towards Naruto and the group;

"I apologize for their behavior, it won't happen again, I assure you," said Pakku as he bowed, but Naruto dismissed it offhandedly;

"No worries about, they had it coming to them," said Naruto lazily as he waved, causing the water-bending master to shake his head with a small smile on his face before he turned back and walked away. Then suddenly, he turned back towards the group;

"Be sure to get plenty of rest, for tomorrow will be arriving at the departing point where you four will depart towards the Earth Kingdom," informed Master Pakku as he resumed his walk back towards his quarter, leaving the group by themselves.

Naruto, after watching Master Pakku walk away, he turned around and saw the interaction of the group, seeing how close the three of them were as Aang and Katara praised and hugged Sokka on his victory. Despite the fact Aang wasn't related to them by blood, he was still treated as part of their family. Naruto lowered his gaze as he slowly began to feel out of place . . . and extremely homesick. Without saying a word, the blonde lowered his head, his bangs shadowing his eyes as he turned and left the three of them on deck, leaving them puzzled at their friend's sudden behavior as they turned to each other;

"What's wrong with him?" asked Sokka confused

"I don't know," responded an equally confused Aang, "He was fine a second ago."

Katara didn't say anything as she watched him disappear through the crew of the ship, concerned for the blonde;

"_Naruto . . . _"

- / | \ -

Night had fallen and everyone on the ship was fast asleep, all except one person. Naruto could be seen on the side of the ship, watching the moon as he rested on the rails of the ship using his forearms. His mind was going through all of the things that have happen to him and contemplating of the friends and loved ones he left behind, but mostly, his thoughts were about his weapon mistress;

"_God, I miss you Ten-ten,_" thought Naruto as he stared into the moon, the image of his late wife appearing on the light of the moon, "_A part of me tells me that you wish for my happiness, but I'm afraid of doing so, I can't bear the thought as if I were betraying you,_" closing his eyes, as he tried not to cry, he lowered his head, griping on the wooden rails hard, as the wood gave away by the pressure of his handgrip. Slowly raising his head, his eyes were blood red instead of their warm blue, intense rage raging within him, "_How I regret not killing Sasuke when I had the chance. Many catastrophes could have been avoided and this world would still be living in peace,_" then his eyes softened as his eyes were turning back to their usual color, "_And you and I would have lived in happiness, peacefully raising our son together . . . . . a son I never had the chance to meet._"

Not far from him, his animal companion was watching his master go through an emotional turmoil within himself and not wanting to see its master depressed no more, Shen quietly walked towards him and nuzzled its snout against Naruto's shoulder, causing the blonde to look at him in mild surprise before he broke into a small smile and rubbed his snout, causing the dragon to growl softly. Naruto simply looked back at the moon as he still massaging his dragon's snout;

"_Even though . . . I was robbed in raising my own flesh and blood, I still have a chance to guide my child's reincarnation in the right direction,_" thought Naruto with a sigh, "_Even if his beliefs and childish attitude tend to be annoying at times._"

Suddenly, Naruto tensed up when he heard approaching footsteps, looking to the side, he saw Katara talking to a sad looking Aang, both were unaware of his presence as they continued to converse till Katara finally noticed him when she caught sight of Shen. Aang still hadn't noticed Naruto's presence, but felt better after his chat with the native water girl and bid her good night as he went below deck to get some rest. After seeing Aang was completely gone, she turned towards the blonde and walked towards him;

"Hey Katara," greeted Naruto with a waved of his hand and a fake smile on his face, which Katara was able to see through;

"Don't," she said flatly as she turned towards the ocean, surprising the blonde

"Don't what?" he asked playing dumb but that only made the girl more annoyed;

"I can see through your mask Naruto," stated the girl, "I can see that you're sad and hurt."

Deciding to cut the charade, he turned towards the ocean and both stayed quiet for a while, not a word was said as the two stared at the glow on the surface of the ocean, provided by the moon;

"I feel so out of place and . . . alone," suddenly said Naruto out of the blue, making the girl look at him with confusion till her eyes widen in realization;

"You miss your family," said Katara softly as she reached out for him by gently placing her hand on his shoulder as she recieved a nod from the blonde;

"I was to be father when my village was about to be attacked," said Naruto, causing Katara to widen her eyes in shock and sadness, diverting her gaze from his sight;

"_If he was going to be a father, then that means he was . . . ." _turning back towards Naruto, she stated, "You were married, weren't you."

Looking directly into her eyes, he spoke, "Yes, I was."

"And you seek the dark fire-bender out of revenge," stated Katara, but was surprised when the blonde just shook his head;

"No, I learned the hard-way that revenge just leads to more darkness. Although, I know he and I are bound to cross paths cause of Aang. I will do everything in my power to make sure he doesn't harm baldy, as penance for not being strong enough," declared Naruto, "_Strong enough to have chosen the decision that needed to be made,_" thought the blonde the last part as he stared at the moon with a fierce look of determination, but Katara just quietly went up to Naruto and slapped him hard across the face, surprising him greatly as he stared at her in the eyes;

"Stop talking as if you're all alone in this, because you're not!" yelled the girl in his face, "Do you think that your family would want you to drown in misery silently or live it to the fullest?" she ranted without breaking eye contact, but she wasn't finished, "Do you believe that if something were to happen to you, we would not be affected!" "_That I won't be affected!_" she said as she thought last part in her mind;

"We may not your real family nor have no intentions of replacing it either, but we think of you as one of our own and we do care for you Naruto," said Katara with tears beginning to form at the corner of her eyes.

Naruto stared at Katara blankly before he dropped his head with a small smile and lift it right back up to reached out for her cheek to wipe away the unshed tear;

"Thank you Katara," said Naruto sincerely, "And I'm sorry for being a knucklehead."

Katara just wiped the rest of her tears before she went up to him and hugged him tightly, burying her face on his chest as she came in terms as to what her feelings for the blonde were as she hugged him even tighter;

"But you're our knucklehead," she said softly, while thinking, "_You may not be the bender that Aunt Wu predicted, but I cannot deny what I feel in my heart._"

- \ | / -

Morning had arrived and everyone on board the ship was gathered to watch their heroes off. While Naruto was preparing for his take off, he was watching Pakku giving Aang and the others parting gifts for their journey to the Earth Kingdom base, where they will be escorted to Omashu so baldy could begin his earth-bending training. Katara received some sort of necklace that that, he guessed, held some especial properties from the vibr he was getting from it. Aang received a wooden box that held the insignia of the water-tribe. Although he felt bad for his student, he couldn't help but laugh on the inside when the wolf-tailed warrior simply received a farewell and a pat on the shoulder, disappointing him as his shoulders hung low and turned towards the bison to mount him. Naruto watched them take off into the skies as he mounted his dragon and was about to order Shen to do the same but was halted by Master Pakku;

"Naruto, may I have a word with you," said Pakku as he approached the blonde swordsman with his hands behind his back;

"Sure Master Pakku, what's on your mind?" said/asked Naruto

"I ask a favor from you," said Pakku as he stared in the eyes of Naruto, making him somewhat nervous;

"Uh . . . Sure, what is it that you need is?" asked the blonde uncomfortably

"Protect Kana's grandchildren, I know I shouldn't worry since they are traveling with the Avatar and should trust him as his former teacher, but the fact is that he's still just a child and will probably be overwhelmed by future obstacles ahead of him," said Pakku as he closed his eyes

"You see them as your own, don't you Master Pakku, despite not being related in blood," stated Naruto with a small smile, while Pakku just nodded his head, "Don't worry, I'll watch over them."

"You have my thanks Naruto," said Pakku as he bowed in respect, but suddenly Pakku held a serious look in his eyes as he raised his head, making Naruto slightly nervous, "Also, I advise you not to hurt Katara in any way. She's quite taken with you as her feelings grow stronger, although from seeing how stubborn she is, she won't admit it outright," then he narrowed his eyes dangerously at the blonde, which made him even more nervous, "So you break her heart and I'll break you in two, do we understand each other?"

Naruto just nodded his head rapidly, wanting to get away from the aged master as soon as possible. Pakku satisfied with the answer, he became cheerful as if nothing happened;

"Good, go along now, don't want to fall behind now do you," said Pakku as he walked off

After seeing Pakku walking off, Naruto quickly got off his stupor and turned towards Shen;

"Take to the skies now! Before he comes back!" ordered Naruto hurriedly. Shen just snorted and jumped into the skies, following suit after the flying bison.

- / | \ -

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Iroh is relaxing and getting a massage at a beautiful spa resort. Zuko however, is unhappy, realizing it has been three years to the day he was banished from the Fire Nation. He desperately wants to reclaim his honor, the throne, and his father's love. His uncle tries to cheer him up, but he's unsuccessful to do so.

However, both of them were unaware of the threat that was heading their way as it continued its trek at sea. A Fire Nation ship carrying Princess Azula is arriving at the Earth Kingdom to capture her brother and uncle. The captain of the ship warns the princess of the waves crashing against them, telling her that they won't allow them to make it to port on time, but Azula didn't want to hear none of that and threaten the captain's life by over throwing him off board and let the waves smash him against the rocks. The captain apologizes and heads back to the cabin in haste, out of fear of the princess fulfilling her promise out of spite.

Noting that no one was around, Azula let out a sigh as she dropped her mask. Slowly, she walked towards the rail, watching the waves with sad eyes as they crashed on the rocky terrains, her older brother occupying her thoughts.

"You need to learn how to be patient, my apprentice," a voice suddenly said from behind, startling her slightly.

Putting her mask back on, Azula turned around to see her master approaching her with his hoodie down and hands behind his back. A middle aged man with long raven hair (A/N: think of Madara's hair style.) flowing freely by the winds while his onyx eyes stared at her. Azula then kneeled down out of respect and slight fear;

"My apologies Master Sasuke," said Azula as she raised her head. The sharingan wielder just waved his hand dismissively, telling her to rise to her feet, while he kept walking towards the rails of the ship, "Tell me Azula, how you plan to capture your targets, since you are eager to reach our destination."

Azula gritted her teeth before replying with an emotionless face;

"Through deception master. Zuko blindly seeks our father's recognition that he'll believe anything I tell him concerning our father."

"I see," muttered the Uchiha before he turned around to face his student, "I shall accompany you."

Azula kept her poker face while perfectly hiding her shock, "And why is that master? If you don't mind me asking."

"While your abilities have proceeded beyond my expectations, don't forget that your uncle is the famed Dragon of the West," reminded Sasuke with a glare, "And even though he retired from the army, his skills are still in par or better than your father's."

"Forgive me master," said Azula as she bowed her head lightly, "But I ask you to allow me to handle this matter my way."

"And why is that, Azula?" asked Sasuke narrowing his eyes

"Because master, with your presence, my uncle will know something suspicious is aboard and will do everything in his power to evade us, considering your reputation and hailed as the Dragon of Black Flames," "_Please, buy it!_" replied Azula with the same stoic face while on the inside she was desperate for her lie to work.

Azula's master didn't say anything for a few minutes as he pondered his disciple's words in his mind before he nodded his head, "Alright, I'll let you handle this matter your way," he said as he walked closer to her, till he was glaring at her directly in the eyes, "Don't fail."

Azula slowly nodded her head and watched her master walk away inside the ship, leaving her clutching her hands together in a hate filled glared in her eyes.

- \ | / -

Back with our heroes, after flying for a good while, Naruto began to see something off the distance as they got closer. Narrowing his eyes as they continued to fly closer, he realized that they were reaching the outpost;

"Heads up everyone! We have reached our destination!" shouted Naruto as he pointed at the fortress that looked a shape of a ring with four straight-ish wall sections shooting off.

As soon as the animals landed, all four of them got off and stretched their sore limbs, while a man suddenly came behind them and greeted them with open arms;

"Welcome Avatar Aang! I am General Fong," said the general, surprising the group as they turned back to see the general and his little fleet of earth-benders bow at the presence of the avatar. Standing up straight, the general continued sucking up, "And welcome to all of you great heroes! Appa, Momo, Brave Sokka and the Mighty Katara!"

"Mighty Katara, I like that," Katara said with her arms crossed while her brother smiled at the recognition.

Then his eyes fell onto Naruto, gaining a look of surprise from the general before he bowed towards Naruto, "And its great honor to have you in my fortress as well, Naruto no Mujihi."

"Mujihi?" asked Aang, "What does that mean?"

"It means merciless or ruthless," answered Naruto, to which Fong nodded;

"That is correct," confirmed the general as he gestured the group to follow him inside the tower, "The surviving warriors from the fire nation navy are spreading the tales of your exploits at the North Pole."

Once inside, Fong was sitting behind his desk on top of the tower;

"Avatar Aang, we were all amazed at the stories of how you single handedly wiping out an entire fire navy fleet at the North Pole. I can't imagine what it feels like to handle devastating power. It's an awesome responsibility," said General Fong while he strokes his beard, making Aang rub his head nervously;

"Well, technically, I wasn't alone," replied a modest Aang

"We are well aware of the Crimson Avatar's involvement at the North Pole, but since no one knows of his whereabouts, we cannot rely on him to help us," said the general as he closed his eyes and laid back on his chair as he stared at Aang, "But you, young Avatar, you're ready to face the Fire Lord now," suddenly said Fong, making the whole group gape at the man.

"What! No I'm not!" exclaimed Aang.

"Aang still needs to master all four elements," intervened Katara.

"Why? With the power he possesses a power that matches the Avatar of legend and be able to defeat hundreds of ships in mere minutes, he can defeat the Fire Lord now!" said General Fong raising his voice as he stood up on his feet;

"But sir, Aang can only do that when he's in the Avatar state," informed Sokka

"You see the Avatar-" began the young avatar, but was rudely interrupted by the general;

"I'm well aware," said the general, "Your eyes and tattoos glow, and you gain unbelievable power. Without you we'd be slaughtered before we reached their shores. But, with you leading the way, as the ultimate weapon, we could cut a swath right through to the heart of the firenation."

Naruto glared at the man with disdain, reminding him too much of Danzo but stayed quiet, wanting to see how Aang would handle the situation;

"Right, but the thing is I don't know how to get in or out of the Avatar State much less what to do once I'm there," Aang said uncomfortably.

"So it's decided then, I'll help you figure out how to get in the Avatar State and then you'll face your destiny," proclaimed the General

"Nothing's decided! We already have a plan, Aang's pursuing his destiny his way," argued Katara as she and her brother got up to their feet.

"Very well, while you take your time learning the elements, the war goes on," General Fong said, "May I show you something?" he then led them to the window, overlooking a smaller building where various wounded soldiers limped/walked near it.

"That's the infirmary and those soldiers are the lucky ones; they came back. Every day the Fire Nation takes lives. People are dying, Aang, you could end it now! Think about it" General Fong said before he walked away, or so he tried.

Naruto, having enough of the manipulative bastard, turned towards the retreating form of the general;

"What the fuck did you expect in a war" announced Naruto angrily which made Fong stop running his mouth and turn while the rest of the group stared at the blonde at his outburst in shock, "Casualties happen in a war, it's unavoidable," then the blonde's glare intensified, "But it's the arrogant bastards like yourself that look for a fake sense of glory that make the number of casualties rise with the bodies of your own instead of your enemies, " Naruto added coldly while the General just stared at the blonde without a word, and just like that, he left the room.

Later that day, during the nighttime at the Earth Kingdom Outpost, General Fong sat behind his desk looking at his maps as the bald, tattooed, orange clad monk approached;

"General Fong?" Aang said, his gray eyes looking downwards as he spoke.

"Come in, Aang! Have you thought about our discussion?" General Fong said pleasantly, knowing that the avatar had caved in;

"I'm in; I'll fight the Fire Lord!" Aang said gaining resolve as he spoke, causing the general to smile broadly.

After his talk with the general, Aang returned to the group's quarters and made his way to his bed. As soon as Aang entered the room, Naruto eyed him carefully, reading Aang's body language. After watching him for seconds, he took a glance on the kid's eyes and sighed, knowing what Aang had done;

"I told the General I'd help him, by going into the Avatar State," announced a defeated Aang to the group, causing Katara to frown in disapproval;

"Aang, no, it's not the right way," said Katara from her bed.

"Why not? Remember when he took out the fire-navy? He was incredible!" argued Sokka as he lay on his own bed.

"You seem to forget a crucial fact, Aang cannot control the Avatar state," Naruto put his two cents from his spot, laid out on his bunker bed above Aang's. Sokka then rolled on his side to look up at Naruto;

"What makes you say that?"

"Why ask me when you were there Sokka," responded the blonde as he now rolled on his side to look at everyone over the edge, "But in case you don't understand dimwit, I'll explain it; Aang wasn't in control, the Crimson Avatar was the one who disposed of the fleet while suppressing Aang to make sure he didn't become a loose cannon or did you forget the previous times Aang had gone into the Avatar state and let his emotions get the best of him."

Sokka didn't have anything to say for he remembered the time at the air temple and the one when Aang was taken by Zuko on his ship;

"And if the kid wants to really master the Avatar state, then he needs to do it the old fashion way," said the blonde with finality

"Naruto's right and the right way to do this, is through practice, study, and discipline," Katara said.

"Or just glow it up and stomp that Fire Lord," stubbornly said Sokka, seemingly forgetting about the incident the previous incidents and having not heard a word that was previously said.

"Fine if you two meat heads want to throw away everything we've worked for, fine! Go ahead and 'glow it up!'" said Katara as she threw her arms up in the air as she got up and walked out of the room.

Annoyed with how circular the conversation had become, Naruto just leaped off the bed and walked towards the door stopping with the door halfway open as he turned back towards the two;

"If that's the course of action you plan to follow, that's fine, but don't count on my help on this matter," declared Naruto as he too, walked out of the room.

"Katara! Naruto! I'm just being realistic, I don't have time to do this the right way," Aang said helplessly, but it still didn't sound as convincing to him.

- / | \ -

Back on Azula's ship, the princess herself was seen on deck, by herself as she took deep breaths and exhaled as she practiced lightning generation, a highly advanced form of Firebending, with Her royal advisers, Lo and Li, watch her progress from afar as the lightning bolt shot off into the distance;

"That was almost perfect," remarked one of the old crones

"Just by a hair," remarked the other old crone

"_Almost isn't good enough,_" thought Azula while gritting her teeth as she resumed her stance and readied to shot another lightning shot.

- \ | / -

The next day, Naruto was waiting outside of the room, leaning against the wall while everyone was getting ready to go meet the general. Then the door was opened with Katara being the first one to walk out of the room. Closing the door, she turned around only to slightly jump out of surprise when she saw her blonde friend;

"Naruto, don't scare me like that," said Katara as she tried to calm herself down by taking small breaths. After bringing her heartbeat down, she looked at Naruto, "What are you doing here Naruto? I thought you would be with the general waiting for us."

Naruto just shook his head, "No, I was waiting for Aang to come out, but can you deliver the message for me please?"

"Sure, what is it?" asked the young water-bender;

"Can you to tell Aang that I won't be accompanying him on this . . . farfetched quest to achieve the Avatar state. If I do go, I'll end up breaking the General's neck," informed the blonde, not surprising the girl one tiny bit;

"You also believe this to be a waste of time," she stated more than asked, which the blonde gave her a nod;

"Yes, the general used Aang's beliefs of life value against him and Aang, by feeling guilty for disappearing for over a century, feels even more responsible for the casualties," summarized Naruto

"Then what are you going to be doing if you're not going to join us?" asked Katara curiously, which only received a shrug of the shoulders;

"Most likely practice my swordsmanship or meditate and wait till Aang realizes he's just wasting time," replied Naruto as he got off the wall and walked down the hallway, not before he stopped for a bit and turned back to Katara, "If there's trouble, come get me."

Katara just nodded her head and watched him walk deeper into the hallway as he disappeared when the blonde made a turn. Letting out a sigh, she turned to the opposite way to meet up with General Fong.

Once Aang and the group met up with Fong, they quickly began to put Aang through tests to try to trigger the Avatar State;

First, he serves Aang a special herbal tea which increases energy ten-fold in normal soldiers, and in theory, it should give the boost of energy required in order to jump into the Avatar State. However, it had the opposite effect as Aang did get a boost, a sugar high boost as he was air-balling all across the place, talking uncontrollably as it began to annoy the living hell out of everyone, making Sokka make a comment about 'talking the Fire Lord to death,' only to have the young monk crash face first into a pillar behind the siblings.

The second attempt was made by Sokka who summarized that Aang would reach the Avatar state by being afraid at a certain point, which it made Aang unsure of the method, but was willing to give it a try if it helped him reach the Avatar state. By Sokka's signal, Katara covered both of the monk's eyes with her hands for a few seconds, till she uncovered them, revealing Sokka using Momo as a second head while he hid his own inside his shirt. Aang was indeed surprised by the effort, but it failed since there was no glow coming from Aang.

Their last attempt was when Fong organized a ritual. Unknown to everyone gathered in the chamber, Naruto was watching silently from the shadows as he leaned against the wall and watched Aang wear the clothing from all four nations. The shaman or whatever he was began chanting some nonsense as he held a jar of water on one hand and a bowl of dirt on the other. Suddenly, the shaman poured the water first into the container in front of him, then the bowl of earth. Throwing both objects away, the shaman reached behind him to grab a torch and dumped it into the container as well. Then out of the blue, he pulled out an air blower bellow to blow air into the container;

"_Are you fucking serious,_" thought Naruto with a twitch on his eyebrow as he continued to watch the shaman chant till he grabbed the container and threw its contents at Aang. The young Avatar complained of having nothing but dirt on him, but he stopped when he began to feel a twitch, making everyone believe the ritual had an effect . . . only for Aang to sneeze and blow the dirt all over everyone. Naruto wasn't surprised when this attempted failed as well and just shook his head disapprovingly before he retreated back into the shadows and headed back towards their quarters.

- / | \ -

Back with Iroh and Zuko, they had arrived on their resort after walking around and collecting shells, to which Zuko was annoyed beyond belief;

"We don't need any more useless things now," complained the former prince, "You forget that we have to carry our things now."

"Hello brother . . . Uncle . . ." said a voice that made both of them slightly jump, but Zuko quickly recovered as a look hatred marred is eyes as he quickly turned towards the opposite corner of the room to find Azula, sitting on the table;

"What are you doing here?" demanded heatedly and coldly towards his sister, seeing red as he wasn't able to see the slight flinch and look of hurt in her eyes before she schooled herself with an indifferent mask;

"In my country, we exchange a pleasant hello before asking questions," replied Azula with a bored expression as she played with one of the shells on the table with her fingers. Slowly, she got off the table and walked towards her brother, "Have you become so uncivilized so soon Zu-zu," she questioned with a smirk.

"Don't call me that you bitch!" shouted Zuko in boiled rage. Azula just closed her eyes to keep herself in check, but luckily, Iroh intervened as he stepped between the two;

"To what do we owe this honor?" asked the former general with his arms placed inside the sleeves of his robe, watching the girl carefully to figure her out, but all she did was let out a small sigh;

"It must be a family trait, both of you so quick to get to the point," concluded the princess as she opened her eyes and continued to play with the shell in her hand till she placed her hands behind her, "I come with a message from home; father changed his mind, family is suddenly very important to him. There have been constant rumors of overthrowing him, treacherous plots," said the princess, eyeing the scarred prince carefully, "Family are the only ones he can really trust," suddenly she turned towards the window, "Father regrets your banishment, he wants you home."

Zuko just stood there quietly as he digested everything that was just said to him, unresponsive as he stared at the ground;

"Did you hear what I just said," asked Azula looking at him in the eye, "You should feel happy, excited, and grateful. I just brought you good news."

"I'm sure your brother needs a moment to –"began Iroh till he was interrupted by the princess with a glare, shutting him up quickly. Turning back towards Zuko, she walked closer to him, "I still haven't received a thank you, I'm not a messenger, I didn't have to come all this way to tell you this."

"Father regrets . . . he wants me back . . . "said the banished prince softly, making Azula sigh;

"I see that you need to time to take this in," concluded the princess as she walked towards the door, "I'll come to call on you tomorrow, good day Zu-zu."

And like that, she walked out of the resort, leaving the two by themselves. Iroh sent a worried glance to his nephew before he followed Azula out;

"Azula!" called out the general, gaining the young girls attention, staring at him with insignificance;

"What do you want Uncle?" asked Azula rudely, causing Iroh to frown in disapproval;

"I know my brother better than you think, so what are you really doing here, Azula?" asked Iroh emotionlessly as he narrowed his eyes at the princess;

"Like I told Zuko, father regrets banishing him and wants him back. If you don't believe me Uncle, then that is your problem," responded Azula nonchalantly as she shrugged her shoulders and turned back towards the road walking away, "Now if you excuse me, I have to return to the ship, buh-bye."

Iroh just watched the girl walk away, frowning as she did so;

"What happened to you Azula?" asked the former general, making Azula stop shortly, "You were once a kind girl that adored and looked up to her brother."

Azula didn't say anything for a while and wordlessly, she walked down the road, leaving Iroh behind as he watched her disappear down the road. Sighing, the Dragon of the West turned back towards the resort, only to turn back spontaneously when he caught sight of the shell that Azula was finger playing with, laying on the floor on the same spot Azula was once standing. Curiosity getting the best of him, he reached down and picked it up, carefully inspecting it as he looked at the outer shell. Still not being satisfied, Iroh flipped the shell and his eyes narrowed when he found some scratches etched on it and began trying to figure out slowly, causing his eyes to widen in shock he piece them together. Carefully reading it over and over again to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, he looked up at the road with a grim expression.

- \ | / -

Back at the fortress, Aang was watching the sunset from watch-post, thinking of how to get into the Avatar state so he could go and end the war;

"Aang."

The young avatar heard his name being called out and turned to see who called him, only to grimace that it was Naruto that had announced his name as he approached him;

"You have a moment?" asked the blonde

"Yea . . ." replied the young monk with uncertainty as he turned to face Sokka's master;

"Do you remember how you felt when you found the remains of your former master?" asked the blonde suddenly, catching Aang completely off guard;

"How do know about that?" asked/demanded Aang as he watched Naruto walk towards the arm rests of the watch post;

"Katara told me," replied Naruto without looking at him, "She's worried about you, you know."

"How is she worried about me?" asked Aang softly, intrigued about Katara's concern for him;

"She's afraid of you losing yourself by entering the Avatar state through your rage and pain," responded Naruto as he turned to stared at Aang right in the eye, "She sees you as part of her family and it pains her to feel powerless when your rage consumes you."

"But the Avatar state –" Aang tried to argue, but Naruto harshly cut him off;

"The Avatar state is a helpful tool that is granted to you as you journey through the mastery of the elements," said Naruto sternly, causing Aang to flinch at the tone he was being spoken, "Without looking underneath the underneath of each discipline, you won't be able to find balance and thus, the Avatar state will be rendered useless if you aren't able to control it and just wildly attack everything around, including the love ones that care for you."

"But you don't understand Naruto," shouted Aang desperately, "I'm not strong enough on my own! I wasn't strong enough to protect Katara when we were ambushed at Jeong Jeong's camp and you ended up being the one to rescue her! I wasn't strong enough during the attack of the North Pole and the Crimson Avatar had to step in since I was being overwhelmed! And to make matters worse, with each passing day the war continues, more people are losing their lives!" argued the young monk as he shouted at the passive blonde, "I'm already a hundred years late and defeating the fire lord is the only way to end this war! I have to try it!"

Both didn't say a word after Aang had finished his little speech. A few more seconds passed before Naruto let out a tired sigh and wordlessly turned back where he came from, but not before he stopped a couple of steps;

"You should've thought about that before you chose to run away and abandon those that needed you. Regretting your choice of action isn't going to bring back your people or the loved ones the people lost in this war," said Naruto harshly without turning around to address the young monk, but he wasn't through either, "But if that is your decision, then don't expect Katara to come bail you out because of your foolishness," at that comment, the monk got mad at the blonde's words;

"Who are you to make someone else's decision! You don't speak for her!" shouted Aang angrily;

"He does speak for me on this matter Aang, because I also don't agree with this idea of yours," said Katara out of the blue as she walked out of the door and walked next to the unturned blonde, looking directly into Aang's eyes, "I can't watch you do this to yourself. I'm not coming tomorrow," she said with her arms gently wrapped her arms around herself as she turned to follow Naruto back inside, leaving Aang hurt and angry.

Back inside, Katara and Naruto were walking down the corridor in silence;

"Naruto . . . You're being too hard on Aang," said the water tribe girl softly. Naruto slightly turned towards Katara with emotionless face;

"And you're protecting him too much," countered the blonde

"He's just a kid Naruto! A kid that was given a major responsibility that we possibly cannot comprehend," argued the young water-bender.

Naruto didn't say nothing as he just closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath and slowly exhaled while opening his eyes, sharply looking at Katara, who gave a sudden gasp of fright as she took a step back as she stared into his eyes;

"There are many things you do not know about me Katara, but I do know what is like to be placed with such weight on the shoulders," emotionlessly stated Naruto as he turned around and walked away, leaving Katara by herself and her thoughts;

"_Those eyes . . . . ._" thought the girl as she watched the blonde make a turn down the corridor, unable to get the look of his eyes out of her mind;

"_They held such coldness and emptiness_" thought Katara with a shudder before she looked down the hall the blonde had walked down, "_Just who are you Naruto?_"

- / | \ -

Later that day, night time had come at the resort where Zuko and Iroh were residing at the moment. If you were to look inside the building through the window, Zuko could be seen going back and forth with clothing in his hands with a bright smile on his face;

"We're going home! After three long years, is unbelievable," exclaimed Zuko happily in disbelief, still not believing it himself. Iroh, however, remained quiet as he sat at the table, still looking at the shell that Azula had dropped;

"It is unbelievable," commented the former general with turning towards his nephew, "I have never known my brother to regret anything."

"Didn't you listen to Azula?" retorted the banished prince he a glare directed at Iroh, "Father has realized how important family is. He cares about me."

Iroh stood from his chair and looked at his nephew with pleading eyes, "I care about you! And if Ozai wants you back, well . . . it may be for the reasons you imagine," retaliated the general, crossing his arms in the end with his eyes closed.

"You don't know how my father feels about! You don't know anything!" growled Zuko as he turned his back at his uncle, refusing to listen. Iroh let out a sigh as he dropped his arms to his sides, trying to reason with his wayward nephew;

"Zuko, I only meant that in our family . . . things are not always what they seem or have you forgotten the sudden change that befell our family when _**he**_ appeared," reminded the general, causing Zuko to grimace as he knew too well as to whom his uncle was referring to and the overnight change Azula and his father had but his pride didn't let him see reason and in anger, he turned and lashed out at his uncle;

"I think you're what you seem! A lazy, mistrustful, shallow old man who's always been jealous of his brother and weak minded for not accepting the offer of power presented to you by _**him**_," said Zuko angrily, not seeing the hurtful look in his uncle's eyes as he stormed off, leaving Iroh by himself.

Iroh simply watched as his nephew walked out of the room and tiredly, let out a sigh till he looked at the shell once again, with a coded message scratched on it;

"_**Be on guard or the black flames will consume everything.**_"

"I don't know what kind of game you're playing Azula," muttered the Dragon of the West as he slowly narrowed his eyes, "But if he's truly here, then I must protect Zuko at all costs." The shell was crushed in his hand as he formed a fist and stared out into the darkened night.

- \ . / -

Back at the fortress, Aang suddenly woke up, sweating as he had another dream of him being in the avatar state, thus fueling his belief that Katara and Naruto were right and forcing himself to go into the avatar state being a bad idea. Deciding tomorrow he would talk to the general with hopes that General Fong wouldn't get upset.

The following day, Aang and Sokka stood in front of the doors of General Fong's office, his resolve slowly leaving as he didn't want to disappoint the general. Sokka, seeing the hesitation, placed a hand on his friend's shoulder;

"Don't worry about happens, just make sure that you believe that the decision you're making is the right one," Sokka told his bald friend

"Do you think the general will get mad?" asked Aang

"Of course not! You're the Avatar, who knows better than you?" reassured the native warrior with a grin. Getting his confidence back, Aang opened the door and both of them walked into the general's office.

"Aang, how may I help you?" greeted the General politely.

"General Fong, I wish to continue with my journey and achieve the Avatar state in my own way," announced Aang. Fong simply placed his hands in front of him as he passively stared at Aang;

"I see, what made you change your mind Aang?" questioned the general

"The thing is, I don't think we'll be able to trigger the Avatar state on purpose, and I guess that's it since I don't see any purpose of continuing," replied the young monk

"You sure I can't change your mind?" asked Fong

"I'm sure. I can only reach the Avatar state when I'm in genuine danger," replied Aang as he slightly dropped his shoulders

"I see . . . I was afraid you would say that," muttered Fong before he shoved the massive boulder desk at Aang, sending him across the room and out the window;

"Aang!" shouted Sokka as he tried to go and help his friend, but Fong's soldiers quickly restrained him in place as he watched the general walked towards the destroyed wall that Aang was thrown out of;

"Men! Attack the Avatar!" order the General before he jumped out to confront Aang, causing a small quake on his landing.

Sokka remained restrained as he heard Aang's pleas to stop the madness, but it fell on deft ears as the rumble of earth being bent to attack the young avatar. Unable to take it anymore, Sokka lazily raised his right leg and brought it down with a loud stomp, stomping the foot of one of his captors, hearing the bones being crushed and being let go so the injured soldier could nurse his broken foot. Seeing his chance, Sokka quickly turned to face his other captor, who still held onto his arm as he refused to let go, that is until the young warrior sent a straight palm into the soldiers chest causing him to gasp for breath as his grip as the earth soldier stumbled back, loosening his grip on Sokka. Not wasting time, Sokka stepped in between the two as he tore his arm from the soldier's grip and rapidly launched a series of attacks; chops to the neck and collar bone, underneath punches to the mid section, palm or punches sent to the face to both of them as he switch back and forth till he stopped his assault. Huffing, he watched the two fall to the floor unconscious with a thud.

After regaining his breath, Sokka rushed out the room to go help his friend.

"If it isn't Zuko giving us problems, it's another lunatic that it is," muttered the wolf-tailed warrior as he rushed down the stairs.

- / . \ -

Speaking of our favorite banished prince, Zuko was walking down the stairs of mountain, heading towards the port where his sister's ship had made land only to stop abruptly when the sight of said ship came into view.

Many things were going within his mind, but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone shouting from the top of the mountain;

"Wait! Don't leave without me," said Iroh as he descended down the stairs. Zuko's face lit up with happiness when he saw his uncle;

"Uncle, you changed your mind," said the prince happily as his uncle stopped in front of him with a sincere smile on his face.

"Family sticks together, right?" commented Iroh as he placed his hand on his nephew's shoulder. Zuko simply nodded his head before he looked back towards the ship once again;

"We're finally going home," announced the prince as he went his way down the stairs once again, leaving Iroh behind for a few minutes, not noticing the hardened look his face portrayed that never left his face as he too began to walk down the stairs.

Once they had reached the bottom of the stairs, awaiting them was the ship's crew, with Azula and two soldiers at her side at the deck of the ship. Both quietly walked between the pathway the crew had cleared, reaching the ramp to aboard the ship;

"Brother, Uncle, welcome," greeted the princes with a smile while on the inside she was cursing her lazy uncle;

"_Damn it Uncle! I left a warning about him being here so you could get Zuko out of here, but noooo . . . . . you just had to be so lazy and troublesome,_" thought the princess with anger before her eyes began showing fear, "_But I do hope you know what you're doing._"

"I'm so glad that you decided to come," said Azula as she maintained the façade.

The soldiers filled up in two single lines behind Iroh and Zuko. The captain of the ship turned towards princess;

"Are we ready to depart, your highness?"

"Set our course for home, Captain," ordered Azula as she turned her back.

"You heard the princess! Raise the anchors, we're taking the prisoners home!" shouted the captain, realizing his mistake as he watched the princess tense up at his slip up.

Azula let out a sigh of relief at her plan being discovered. She knew full well that her master was within the shadows of the ship watching her every step, making it unable to warn her uncle. But with the captain's mistake, there is still a chance that Zuko won't be captured. The sound of people being sent to the water, courtesy of Iroh, made her snap back to reality, that and her brother's shouting;

"You lied to me!" shouted an enraged Zuko as he attacked the two soldiers that accompanied Azula, sending them overboard. Azula simply looked over her shoulder at her brother with a Cheshire grin;

"Not my fault that you've become so stupid these past couple of years to tell the difference Zu-zu," mocked Azula as she half turned around and placed a hand on her head, "Seriously, years ago I couldn't pass one on you and now I played you like a puppet."

Zuko simply made fire daggers and rushed towards Azula, slashing wildly at her. The princess just stayed calm as she dance around her brother's attacks till she locked one his arms and turned him around to deliver a palm strike into his back. Zuko regained his footing and turned towards his opponent with a heated glare, but was suddenly punched in the back of the head as he fell to the ground, barely maintaining consciousness as he tried to lift himself back to his feet, but was unable to do so as his attacker stomped his foot hard on his back. Zuko looked over his shoulder to see who had attacked him, only to gasp in shock and fear when he saw his attacker;

"You . . ." gasped the scarred prince

"How foolishly of you to believe that your own father would want someone as you back on his side," coldly stated the Uchiha, "Your own father believes you to be a miserable failure, just like Iroh as he failed to conquer Ba Sing Sei and betrayed us at the North Pole."

The Uchiha pressed his foot harder against his back, causing the scarred teen to grunt in pain while Azula could only watch helplessly, but then she heard a cackling noise coming closer from behind and looked to the side and gasped before she dived to the side in attempt to dodge the oncoming projectile.

Sasuke looked up only to see a lightning enhanced flaming ball coming straight at him before it impacted close from him, sending him overboard while Zuko hit the rail of the ship, rending him unconscious. Azula uncovered her face to search for her brother but noticed that her uncle was already attending him.

Seeing that the boy received no major injuries, Iroh hoisted his nephew over his shoulders and walked towards Azula. Seeing the worry in her eyes, Iroh's eyes softened a bit;

"Your brother is fine," announced Iroh, causing Azula to sigh in relief. Then Iroh turned from his nephew to his niece, "But why are you helping us. First you coded message me that Sasuke was here and now you're not even trying to assault us."

Azula simply closed her eyes as she turned her head;

"Not everything is what it seems Uncle; you of all people should know that."

Iroh nodded his head at understanding. Softly, he placed a hand on her shoulder;

"I promise to take of him Azula," declared Iroh, before he broke into an apologetic smile, "And please forgive me for what I'm about to do, but have to make it look like we escaped."

Not giving her a chance to say a word, Iroh kneed her hard in the stomach, causing her to gasp for air and received a hard back hand strike, sending her hard into the ground with a bruise slowly forming on her cheek as she watched her uncle run out of the ship, disappearing deep in the woods of the forest before she lost consciousness.

A couple of minutes later, Sasuke emerged from the water and skillfully landed on his feet, his armor scorched on his right side while his arm was damaged a little as he surveyed the area till his eyes landed on the unconscious form of his student. Narrowing his eyes, the last Uchiha let out a growl as he stared at the forest;

"You may have managed to elude this time Iroh, but next time you won't be so lucky."

- \ . / -

Back the fortress, within the group's bedroom chambers, Katara sat there by herself with Momo keeping her company. With each quake she felt, she couldn't help but feel uneasy at the pit of her stomach.

"I wonder what crazy thing they're trying now," murmured Katara to herself, watching as Momo just shrugged his furry shoulders and went to sleep. Sighing, the water tribe native girl couldn't help but think on the conversation she just had with the blonde a moment ago;

- ( Flashback ) –

"_You're leaving us?" asked Katara in disbelief_

"_I have to," responded the blonde as he packed his bag, "There's a rumor going around within the fortress that Omashu has being seized by the Fire Nation."_

_Katara's eyes widen in horror;_

"_What about King Bumi? Is he alive?" desperately asks the water-bender_

_Naruto simply hoisted his bag over his shoulders and turned towards the girl with a solemn look;_

"_I'm not sure," honestly answered the blonde, "But I'm not going to stay here and wait for them to do so," as he walked towards the door. _

_Katara abruptly turned around towards the blonde;_

"_I'll go with you!" _

_Naruto stopped at the door, halfway open, but looked over his shoulder, giving Katara a soft look;_

"_I'm sorry, but I cannot take you along with me this time," said Naruto remorsefully, causing her to grow angry;_

"_Why not! I'm not the same girl you had to rescue from those pirates months ago," argued Katara, "Please, I can help you."_

_Naruto softly placed his bag on the floor and walked towards her, softly placing his hands on her shoulders as he looked at her directly in the eye;_

"_I know that Katara and you have progressed a lot this last couple of months," confirmed Naruto, "But Aang and Sokka need you more, those two bone heads are lost without you, for you're the voice of reason within this group," then without a word, he hugged, surprising her greatly as she let out a small gasp, "This is just temporary, we'll meet again in Omashu. Till then, stay safe."_

_Slowly, he broke apart from her and walked towards the door as he lifted his bag and walked out of the room._

- ( End Flashback ) –

"Please be safe Naruto," whispered Katara before she cringed at the tremor of another quake. Not being able to ignore the feeling in her stomach, she got out of the bed and went to go look for Aang.

- / . \ -

Meanwhile, said blonde was flying on his dragon at high speeds, trying to reach Omashu as soon as possible as he dashed through the clouds.

"Damn that General," cursed Naruto, "And Aang too for his damn naivety."

But before he could have continued his rant, Shen suddenly nose dived, free falling as Naruto pulled on the reigns really hard as he closed his eyes and grit his teeth, to make Shen pull up, but the dragon refused to obey the command. Opening one eye, the blonde noted that if his animal companion didn't let up, they would crash land into the trees below, but at the last minute, Shen let up and hovered over the trees, causing Naruto to wipe his forehead with his forearm and let out a sigh. Then he glared heatedly at his companion;

"What the hell is wrong with you! Trying to kill me by giving me a heart attack!" yelled Naruto, but the dragon just snorted and pointed its snout towards the giant tree that overshadowed the rest of the swamp;

"You want me to go over there?" asked Naruto, feeling some sort of tug within his being, as if the tree itself was calling out to him. Shaking his head, Naruto turned towards his dragon, "Look, we cannot stop here and waste time. We have to reach Omashu as quick as possible," he said as he pulled on the reigns and instructed his dragon to fly, who reluctantly did so as he began to pick up height.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a massive tornado appeared in front of them, trying to pull them in within the vortex. Shen put up a fight as he tried to fly away, but the wind currents were too strong as the both of them were sucked into the twister. Within the twister, Naruto held on onto the reigns till he decided to disperse the tornado by making a tornado of his own as he slammed both of his fists together and made a twister, expanding it to the sides. But suddenly the twister gained a power boost as it constricted Naruto's vortex and dispersed it completely, dismounting him from his dragon as he was sent off into the forest, crashing down onto the muddy swamp as he skidded on top of the water till his back crashed with the trunk of a tree and landed face first onto the muddy ground, muttering as he struggled to get up;

"Damn it . . . I must be rustier than I thought if I can't handle a simple tornado," groaned the blonde as he got up to his feet, chuckling as a thought came to mind as he looked towards the sky with a sad smile, "Heh, if I ero-sennin were to see me now, he would say I have gotten soft and have been lacking on my training before hitting me in the head and put my ass through hell."

Then he grew a serious look on his face and looked towards the giant tree that was visible from his position, the feeling he had felt earlier becoming stronger;

"Why does it feel familiar," mused the blonde before he jumped into a tree branch and began trekking towards the tree, "If I'm stuck here, might as well find out who or what is calling out to me and if I'm lucky, I'll find that dragon as well."

As he continued to use the trees to move around the swamp, he couldn't but think of Katara;

"I hope . . . I did the right thing by leaving her and those two behind . . . . Nah, she's strong and intimidating when angered, they'll be alright."

Unfortunately, unknowns to him, they were far from ok.

- \ . / -

After Katara sees General Fong attacking Aang, she asked her brother what was going on, only for Sokka to fill her in on what was the general's intention. Both of them intervene to help defend Aang. However, General Fong captures Katara with earth-bending and begins to lower her into the ground in another attempt to induce the Avatar State. As Katara continues to sink, Aang begs for Fong to release her. Instead, Fong completely buries her. Enraged, Aang enters the Avatar State to Fong's delight, but begins to destroy everything in sight.

After seeing that his plan had worked, Fong releases Katara, but was now feeling with dread as he watched Aang continue to destroy his base. Unknownst to everyone, Avatar Roku appears to Aang, releases him from the Avatar State just like he did to Naruto and explains exactly what the Avatar State is, and that if the Avatar is killed while in the state, the Avatar will cease to exist without the certainty of the Crimson Avatar being able to recreate the cycle again. After Roku sends Aang back towards his body, he notices General Fong is still gleeful over having induced the Avatar State, only for Sokka to knock Fong into unconsciousness. After noticing that their fourth member was missing and began to ask questions, Katara informed the two that Naruto had gone ahead and would meet up with them at Omashu, leaving out about the news of the city being taken over and so, Team Avatar departs on Appa for Omashu on their own with the intention of meeting their blonde friend at the city.

- / . \ -

Back with our favorite blonde, Naruto spent a good while trying to reach the giant tree, slowly growing impatient as he stopped and landed on the ground, staring at the distance he still had to trek to reach the tree;

"Damn it! How far is this damn thing!" complained Naruto before his left ear twitched and turned to the left with his hand in a palm thrust, shooting out whirling compressed air into the tree, puncturing right through it as it made the tree crumble. Naruto simply relaxed as he stared at the fallen tree and shook his head, slapping both of his cheeks and comically pulling them down;

"Great . . . Now I'm hearing things," muttered the blonde before a fit of giggles were heard throughout the forest, causing Naruto to be on guard, "K, now I know I heard it this time."

The giggling now came from far ahead and narrowing his eyes, he could see a couple of feet a away a couple of children, twins, a boy and girl no older than seven wearing an outfit that seem identical to the Southern Water Tribe. But what had his focus fixed on them was the traits they had that he could feel some sort of familiarity with them. The boy was a little taller than the girl with light brown skin, lighter than Katara but darker than him, spiky wild brown hair and blue eyes that reminded him of Katara's while the girl had his shade of eye color but her hair was smooth, tied in a ponytail. Her skin was darker than the boy's; if he were to guess, he would say that the little girl's skin color was close to Katara's skin color. As he kept eyeing them, he found a necklace hanging around both of their necks, adorned with fangs with a makeshift of a dragon's head in the middle and in its mouth was a symbol that made his eyes go wide in shock. It was his family's clan symbol, the whirling whirlpool of Uzugakure and the Uzumaki clan.

The children giggled again before they ran away from him, snapping Naruto out of his surprise;

"Wait!" shouted Naruto as he ran after them, not noticing that the twins had run in the same direction as where the tree was located. Run fast and hard he did, but nothing seemed to give him an edge against the two;

"_What the hell? How can two seven year olds out run a seasoned shinobi,_" wondered Naruto in his mind only to see them jump in the clearing.

"Got 'em," smirked the blonde he jumped after them in the clearing but as soon as he landed, he noticed that they were nowhere to be seen. With his guard up, the blonde looked around to find them, but he could no longer hear their giggling or their footsteps. He continued to search for them as he moved in a cirlcle, "Those two kids couldn't have gotten far."

Then he heard the sound of a branch being stepped on and turned towards where the sound had come from;

"Who's there? Show yourself!" demanded Naruto as he pulled out two kunais, one on each hand, ready to fight in case someone decided to jump him. However he wasn't prepared when a girl no older than 17 or 18 stepped out of the shadows.

"Katara?" asked a very surprised Naruto, but then he narrowed his eyes, "No . . . You're not her, who are you?"

The girl in front of him might look like Katara, but she wasn't. Katara's eyes were a draker shade, not lighter and her hair was in a pigtail with hair-loopies on each side of her face while the girl in front of him had her hair in a high ponytail and instead of hair loopies, she had her hair tied in two more ponytails, one adorning on either side of her face. A water tribe sleeveless vest with some band with water-tribe markings on her right bicep and two wristbands covering her whole forearms. She wore the regular pants and boots of the Water Tribe people, but she wore an extra piece of clothing around her waist, covering her backside down to her calves. But was also shocking to him, is that just like the twins from before, this girl also had the same dragon carve necklace with the Uzumaki symbol in its mouth. (A/N)

"I ask you again, who are you girl?" demanded Naruto in a serious manner, but his only response was the girl coming at him at high speeds with her hands extended out and bending the water around her hands, jumping into the air as she transformed them into blades that covered her arms up to the elbows. Anticipating an attack, Naruto simply stepped to the side as he dodged a downward strike from her right arm as she landed but quickly recovered as she did a vertical slash with her left, only for Naruto to jump slightly back, narrowly dodging the attack as a few strands of his hair were cut off;

"_She's fast,_" thought the blonde as he eyed her carefully as she chased after him, slashing at him, but Naruto dodged by either ducking, leaning back or slightly jumping a little bit whenever she tried to strike at his legs. However, he knew he couldn't stay on the defensive for long, smirking he had a thought in his mind as he blocked with forearms a double downward slash against the girl's forearms, "_She's good on the offensive, but let's see how she is on the defensive._"

Then he used his strength to push her off, but the girl didn't let off as she did an overhead slash with the intent of cutting the blonde diagonally. Anticipating this, instead of blocking the attack, he rushed forward and countered with an overhead chop strike, both attacks meeting till the sound of something being cut cleaned was heard through the forest as both of them were feet apart with their backs facing each other. The iced blade landed a couple of feet in front of Naruto and both of them turned around facing one another. The girl inspected her weapon before she shook her hand and made the ice covering her hand into a liquid, creating a water-whip. Naruto simply through the ground with both of his hands and pulled them out, his hands now covered in make shift rocky boxing gloves (A/N: think of hellboy's big rock hand.) and rushed at the girl with his right hand cocked back for a thundering blow, but the girl ducked and tried to counter with a side slash but the blonde blocked with his left boulder glove and sent a knee strike to the girl's chest, sending her up in the air and tried to deliver a spinning kick but Naruto ducked under it , however, he didn't see the girl whipping out the water-whip at him and catching him by the neck. Realizing in the danger he was in, he used his fire manipulation to raise the temperature of his body to vaporize the water and countered once again with a right hand strike at the girl who was still airborne, but to his shock, the girl raised her fist into the air and made a wall of earth rise, blocking the blonde's attack by a minimum, as Naruto's punch pulverized the wall.

The girl jumped back and landed on her feet, quickly taking advantage of Naruto's lack of focus as she launched massive flamethrower at him, but Naruto simply dissolved the rocks on his hands into sand and made a shield to protect himself from the flames, turning the sand into glass. Gaining his breath, the blonde cocked his right hand back and countered with his own flamethrower, shattering the glass and overpowering the girl's fire attack. The girl seeing that her attack was overpowered, she quickly cancelled out her attack jumped ten feet back and watched Naruto's attack hit the mark where she was standing a few seconds ago.

Naruto waited for the smoke to disperse and see what is opponent was planning, but after the smoked cleared, he saw her just standing there, in front of a large shadow. Both didn't say a word for a while and nothing was said as the girl turned around and walked inside the shadows. Seeing her walk away, he chased after her;

"Hey! Wait up damn it!" shouted Naruto as he also ran into the shadows but as he continued to walk deeper and deeper, somehow the shadows slowly seemed to disappear till they were completely gone, making Naruto stop dead on his tracks with his eyes wide open at what was in front of him.

He was at the base of the giant tree, but what was really in front of him was the main gate of Konoha, all time worn and abandoned with the symbol of the hidden leaf still showing proudly on top;

"It can't be . . ." muttered Naruto in disbelief as he walked through the main gate of the village. After taking a few steps inside, he saw how everything was still intact, just barely, as the light that was to get through the tree's trunk illuminated the village. Slowly, the blonde walked past the gate as in a trance down the main road that lead towards the Hokage's building and monument. Memories assaulting him of his time back in Konoha, memories he had made with his friends and loved ones. After walking down the main road for a while, he began looking to the side and right away he saw the Ichiraku ramen bar as a memory assaulted him. Ayame and her father were standing behind the counter, waving happily at him with his former academy teacher, Iruka, sitting at the usual spot he would sit in whenever he and Iruka would eat ramen. Next to him, were the members of the Sasuke Retrieval team (Chouji, Neji, Shikamaru, and Kiba with Akamaru sleeping under the table) all of them holding cups of sake with a fifth one sitting on the table untouched, looking at him with big grins as they waited on him to join them. He closed his eyes as if believing he was seeing things, but he reopens them and their images slowly faded away, leaving behind a rundown stand that could collapse at any minute. Letting out a sigh, the blonde continued on his way, walking down a couple more blocks down, he could see the hospital at the far right. Again he was assaulted with another memory as the building came to life and at the entrance of the hospital was Hinata, Shizune, Ino and Sakura, staring at him with sad but warm smiles as they waved at him. Again, the blonde closed his eyes and reopened them again, only to see that the building was half standing as the rest of it was already crumbled to the floor.

Taking a different route, Naruto soon came near one of the training grounds and instantly, he recognized that this was the training ground where he always sparred with Gai and Lee along with Kakashi. Just like the time before, Naruto saw the training field the same way it was back then, but Gai and Lee were standing there, giving the good guy pose as they smile and small twinkle appearing on their grins while Kakashi sat on top of a boulder, with his favorite porn novel in hand as he eyed smiled at him. Naruto closed his eyes and shook his head violently, wishing the memories would stop resurfacing, but once he looked up only to see a field with grass knee high, trees all over the place with a few animals running amok.

As Naruto continued to walk down the village, he came across the plaza. A place that was always busy with stands placed in a circle so it wouldn't crowed the way. But instead, in the middle of what used to be the plaza, stood a statue. From afar, he could not make of its features and so, he rushed to get a clearer view and to his greater surprise, the statue was a memorial tribute to him.

Standing at 17 ft tall, a statue of him stood on a pedestal made out of marble. With his arms across with his foxy and cocky grin plastered on his face with a look of determination, wearing what resembled the Hokage robes with the kanji of 'avatar' on the back. On the pedestal was a tablet with some writing. Curious, he kneeled down and read its contents;

"_This is a memorial to our lost friend Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze._

_A shinobi. A friend. A husband and father. A hero and a Hokage._

_You shall never be forgotten."_

After he read the tablet, Naruto slightly lowered his head as his bangs shadowed his eyes as tears began to roll down his cheeks with his eyes shut closed. Then suddenly, he opened them as he faintly felt as if two arms were wrapping around his shoulders and slightly felt a faint peck on his forehead. Looking up, he could see the faintly image of his surrogate mother figure looking at him with tears on her eyes as well with a small, but proud smile till she slowly disappeared.

Smiling softly, Naruto looked towards the Hokage's monument and stared directly into Tsunade's face;

"I love you too, mother," whispered the blonde softly as he picked himself back to his feet as he wiped the tears away and continued his trek down the village as he took the road that lead to the Namikaze state.

After a long walk, Naruto found himself standing in front of the gate of his home. The Namikaze state once beautiful back in the day now it looked it had seen better days. It was still standing, but it was cracked on most places as some holes were showing with seeds growing out of them. Taking a deep breath, Naruto walked pass the gate and headed into his house as he slowly opened the door and walked into his house, staring into the torn down home that was once his and Ten-ten's home.

Taking a few steps inside, he noticed right away that on the chimney were some old pictures that were surprisingly still intact. Walking towards them, he gently lifted one of the photos and blew away the dust, the picture revealing a picture of him and his wife smiling wide on their wedding day. The blonde smile softly as he gently put the picture down and lifted another one. Gently he blew the dust away as it revealed another picture of them on top of the Hokage mountain, but a two month pregnant Ten-ten being hugged by the blonde. He remembered that day clearly, it was the day he found out he was going to be a father and couldn't have been the happiest day of his life. Putting the picture down, he looked at the last photo that was remaining and couldn't help but smile sadly as he saw the picture of his wife holding a boy that looked to be no older than two.

"My son," muttered the blonde as he traced the boy's features with his finger

"He's beautiful isn't he?"

Naruto turned around only to gasp in shock as he saw his wife standing at the entrance of the house.

"Ten-hime . . ." whispered the blonde disbelievingly

Ten-ten smiled softly as she approached her one-time husband. Her features hadn't changed much except gaining a few wrinkles under her eyes and a few strands of gray hair on her hair, but none the less, she still looked very beautiful.

"Hello anata," said Ten-ten lovingly as she reached out and stroked his cheek.

"Ten-ten," said the blonde with so much passion that she could feel heavy on his words. Looking at her with sorrowful eyes, he spoke; "Forgive me Ten-chan, for not keeping my promise to you. Forgive me for not being there for you and our son-"

He would have continued but was silenced when she placed a finger on his lips;

"It's ok love, there's nothing to forgive," she declared, "I knew of the possibility of you one day not coming back to me and I was fine with that because with each day we spent, you showed me how much I meant to you and despite you being gone from me, I still had a piece of you in our son," then she grew slightly serious, "Naruto-kun, everything that you have bottled up inside you, let it go."

"But Ten-chan, it is my fault that you and I couldn't grow old and die together, it is my fault since it was me that chose to give Sasuke the benefit of a doubt instead of killing him, it is because of me that -," argued the blonde but quickly stopped himself and looked to the side in shame.

" 'That Katara lost her mother,'" finished Ten-ten for him but Naruto didn't say anything. Ten-ten reached out for his face with both her hands and made him look at her in the eyes.

Naruto felt worse than shit, here he was telling his wife that he loved her when he was subconsciously thinking of Katara. He didn't want to look into ten-ten's eyes and find the anger, disgust, or hate, but when she made him look at her, he didn't found nothing but love and understanding;

"Love, I know of the growing feelings you have for the girl and I approve of her, she has a kind heart, but you need to be honest with her," wisely said the weapons girl, then she looked at him with loving eyes, "Do me one final promise Naruto."

The blonde suddenly grew serious, "Anything."

"Promise me that everything you feel inside you, all the anger, the hate, the sorrow, the guilt -everything – you'll let it out and live your life happily, even if it means sharing your heart with another, promise me," pleaded Ten-ten as she watched Naruto hesitate but eventually took a deep breath and looked at her with loving eyes;

"I promise Ten-hime, it's a promise of a lifetime" said Naruto but a grumbling growl interrupted them as they both turned towards the entrance and saw Naruto's dragon standing there with what could be a smirk on its snout;

"You!" shouted the blonde with a glare while Ten-ten giggled at him;

"I see that you met your former students," claimed the former weapon master, giggling even more at his stupefied face.

"Students!"

She nodded her head as they both watched the dragon give a faint glow and small vortex surrounding it, separating into two beings. The blonde covered his eyes to shield his eyes, but once the vortex had died out, Naruto uncovered them and gasped when he saw two adults in front of him wearing similar robes like Inari when he was at the North Pole, but the difference was one was red with the fire emblem on the hood and the other had the earth emblem on its hood as well;

"Konohamaru . . . Udon . . ." muttered the blonde in disbelief then a thought came to him, "Wait if you two are here, then where is Moegi? I know she conjured that tornado."

"I'm right here," an elderly voice came from the room next to the chimney room as she walked up and stood next to her sage brothers. Her features covered by her orange/brown robe with the air emblem on her hood.

Then at the same time, the three of them reached for their hood and slid back off, revealing their faces to their former master. Konohamaru looked like how Asuma would look if he had lived at Sandaime's age. Udon resembled an uncanny resemblance to his grandfather, except the only difference was that Udon had a black bandana wrapped around his head, covering his eyes and had slightly longer hair. Moegi looked like she aged slowly, but still had the elderly look.

"It's been a while, boss," greeted Konohamaru while Udon and Moegi bowed towards their former master. Then Konohamaru grew serious as he stared at Naruto;

"Master, there's a few things we need to tell you," began the fire sage

"If you referring about Sasuke, then I already know everything I need," interrupted the blonde

"Avatar Roku may have told you what had happened this past century, but he didn't know at the time about the coming comet," informed Udon, earning a confused look from Naruto

"Comet? What comet?"

"Sozin's comet," informed Moegi, "Sasuke, henged as Fire Lord Sozin, used the power of the comet to deliver the first strike and begun the war by exterminating the Air Nomads."

"And now, his descendant, Fire Lord Ozai is going to use its power to end the war," finished Udon

"But there's more, isn't it," stated the blonde he stared at his long time friend and pupil.

Konohamaru nodded

"Yes, the comet gives every fire-bender a power boost that could give the Avatar a hard time, but with Sasuke being able to control the dark flames, no one would be able to stop him from causing a major scale eradication of these lands as he wishes to be the sole ruler of the world."

"So basically we have another Madara in our hands, except Sasuke is going to use lethal force," summarized the blonde

His former students nodded their heads.

"There's another thing you should know," said Udon, "Search for the Library of Wan Shi Tong."

"The library of Wan Shi Tong?" asked Naruto, getting a nod from Konohamaru

"Wan Shi Tong is an ancient spirit that collected knowledge of our history, the Rikudo Sennin and the Jubi, the nine bijuu, jutsu, fighting styles, you name it," said the fire sage, "But the reason I say look for it, is because there's a fighting style created by one of your son's reincarnations."

"A lightning base tai-jutsu style that can give you a fighting chance against Sasuke's lightning manipulation," informed Moegi, "Raiden no ken."

"Raiden's Thunder Fist," muttered the blonde, then he looked at his former students, "And where is this library located at?"

"The library is hidden deep inside the desert of the Earth Kingdom, sorry that we can't be much of help," apologized Moegi with a sad smile

Naruto waved his hand dismissively, "It's alright, at least I know where to start looking."

Naruto began to notice the four of them slowly beginning to fade away. Ten-ten smiled sadly at her blonde;

"Our time is up love, we stayed in the world of the living after our passing, lingering on as we believed that you hadn't died like everyone else thought and held on till the day we could see you again," said Ten-ten. Slowly she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck as the blonde wrapped his around her waist, "Remember your promise anata, live happy and don't be afraid to love again."

Both separated from each other and Naruto watched his weapons girl walk back with tears on her eyes towards the entrance of the state where his students stood.

"We'll see each other again, Ten-hime," said Naruto with a tear stricken smile on his face

"We will when the time comes Naruto-kun," replied Ten-ten as her form became transparent while the three sages had already vanished.

"I love you."

"I love you too anata, always."

And with that, Ten-ten Namikaze disappeared from the world of the living.

Naruto stood there in silent as he still stared at the spot his wife had been standing and slowly he closed his eyes as he took a deep breath and exhaled it out as he opened his eyes. A new fire had been ignited as he walked out of the house with a new purpose. Once outside, the blonde looked upward where the sun light was able to go through to the tree and smiled broadly;

"Through every dark night, there's a brighter day," murmured the blonde, "Thank you Ten-hime and I'll see you again, but not yet . . . not yet."

And without a warning, Naruto used his wind manipulation to boost up his speed as he rushed through the deserted village of Konohagakure no Sato only to stop once he reached the main gate and looked back over his shoulder for a few seconds till he smiled;

"All of you may be gone, but you aren't forgotten for all of you live in my heart and memories," said the blonde before he ran as fast the wind, leaving behind a big cloud of dust.

If he would have stayed behind after the cloud dispersed, Naruto would have seen all his loved ones standing at the entrance of the gate smiling broadly and proudly as they slowly faded away.

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Cut!

Here you folks, sorry for the long wait, but I do hope that the chapter is to everyone's expectations. A few things I want to clear up

Azula's behavior will be explained once I began to type the chapter for the episode "Zuko Alone" so until then, let me know what you guys think. Like many of you, I wasn't pleased with her going looney, but I hope to change that.

Second, I apologize if some of you disagree with me about getting rid of Naruto's animal companion, but it had to be done for what I wanted to do near the end of the chapter.

And I hope you guys can tell who the mystery girl is from the swamp and yes she has a connection.

Now on a personal note, I appreciate and thank the readers that have been reading and waiting for the oncoming chapter, and I do appreciate more those that give me pointers on how to make the story better, (which I hope I have been doing) but to those that read it and tell me that the story is shit, well I don't a shit. As many other authors who have told their flamers, "if you don't like it, don't read it."

Other than that, thank you and hope ya'll enjoyed the chapter.

Kyu no Ken


	12. Book II Chapter 9

Kyu no Ken here and I must say, I'm quite shocked at the well reviews I received from the last chapter and also at the claims of some of the readers. But none the less, I'm glad that I didn't displease anyone after the long awaited chapter of the story. Now before we go into the chapter, I just want to say a few things; the chapter "The Swamp" is broken in two forms, form A where Naruto (as everyone read in the previous chapter) stumbled across the swamp land and faced his past. Form B is where team avatar come across the swamp and it goes as cannon for Aang and Sokka, but Katara is going to be a little different.

Now, back to what a reader said to me on his reviews: 1) For someone that never wrote a story, this reader sure likes to criticize. Sure I did say for you guys to tell me where I messed up, so fuck it, my writing is not that great, I admit it. 2) It is pretty obvious what pairing is going since it shows on the stats of the story and lastly, 3) Like another previous reviewer said and I quote; "the people who are telling you to change should just write their own." End quote. I could have not put it into simpler words.

Sam: I thank you my friend for the support and hope that I keep on making you proud with my future chapters.

And for my other and future flamers, I thank you for reviews. You just keep making the review count grow. ^_^

And on another note, I would to say that most of you got it correct. The girl that appeared on the last chapter was Korra from the upcoming series of Avatar: Legend of Korra. (which I saw the premiere and it was awesome in my opinion.)

One more thing; I do not own the song that I placed in this story.

One more thing; I do not own Naruto

ONE MORE THING; I do not own Avatar: Last Air Bender

Other than that, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter

Episode "The Cave of Two Lovers" will be Narutofied halfway the episode

Episode "Return to Omashu" will be Narutofied and cannon at the end

Episode "The Swamp" will be as cannon for team avatar with a slight modification.

And now . . . . . On with the show!

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_Water_

_Earth_

_Fire_

_Air_

_Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony,_

_Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked,_

_Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them,_

_But when the world needed him most, he vanished._

_One hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, _

_An air-bender named Aang, _

_But unknown to us, the avatar of legend, a man named Naruto had reawakened._

_And although Aang's air-bending skills are amazing and Naruto may be the crimson avatar, they both have a lot to learn before they're ready to save anyone._

_But . . ._

_I believe Aang and Naruto can save the world._

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Confessions of the Heart;

Omashu Has Fallen

A week had passed after Aang, Sokka and Katara left General Fong's fortress, in hopes of catching up with their blonde friend, but after a non-stop journey, the group decided that it was alright to take a break at a nearby lake, giving Aang a chance to work on his water-bending. While Aang and Katara are practicing water-bending in the water, Sokka is practicing his wing chun forms in land while Momo and Appa are soundly sleeping. Soon, the group begins to hear music as they turned towards the direction of the melody, only to see a group of Earth Kingdom nomads coming their way, displaying the characteristics of carefree, nature-loving people. Once the Team Avatar reveals their plans to travel to Omashu, Chong, the lead nomad, speaks of a shortcut through a tunnel passing under a mountain. Although at first Sokka does not want to trust these new characters, so he 'kindly' tells them off and they get on top of Appa to go fly over the mountain, but it was unsuccessful as the kids were ambushed by a fleet of fire nation tanks that opened fire once they were spotted. The team tried to out maneuver them, but proved to be too much as they were outnumbered. An hour later, the team (covered in scorch marks while Sokka's pony tail had a small ember on the tip) decides it was best to follow the nomads to the tunnels.

Just before our heroes enter, Chong mentions that the tunnels form a labyrinth protected by a curse, causing Sokka to slap his head with his palm before he yelled at Chong for not mentioning the curse earlier. However, Chong was oblivious to Sokka's outburst as he continued to explain that only those who put their trust in love can find the way through; those who don't will be forever lost. At this piece of information, Katara couldn't help but think of her blonde haired crush while Aang stared at Katara with a goofy smile. Before they entered the cave, one of the earth nomads notices smoke from afar, causing team avatar to quickly enter the cave. Once they enter, the fleet of tanks that was pursuing the avatar stop abruptly at the entrance of the tunnel, fearing the curse the song the earth kingdom folk sang bout. The soldiers decide to destroy the entrance to the tunnel, trapping everyone inside as they believed that they would die within the mountain. Scared but undeterred, Sokka plans to create a map while traveling though the labyrinth, making the group relief, but before long, however, Sokka's technique with the map is useless due to the fact that the tunnels are changing around them as he leads across another dead end. As Sokka walks around back and forth trying to figure out what is wrong, he begins to hear footsteps approaching them, causing him to pull out his machete;

"Sokka, whats wrong?" asked Katara as she began to worry

"Shh, there's someone around that tunnel," whispered Sokka as he approached the corner with Aang following suit with his staff ready to attack the unknown being.

Both Aang and Sokka began to sweat as they approached the unknown being as they backed into the corner of the tunnel. Looking at Aang, the wolf tailed warrior nodded at his bald friend, who nodded back and both jumped while yelling loudly, causing a shadowy figure to jump out as well with his weapon drawn ready to strike. However, the two of them stared at person in front of them in shock and relief as they saw who it was;

"Naruto?" Aang and Sokka said at the same time

"Aang? Sokka?" said a familiar voice that Katara recognized all too well;

"Naruto?" she asked as she approached the three of them;

"Katara?" asked a surprised familiar blonde as he sheathed his sword in time to catch the young water-bender in his arms as she approached him to hug him, causing Aang to stand back and frown at seeing the girl he likes in the arms of another;

"I thought you were at Omashu already, what happened?" she asked as she detached herself from the blonde, noting a different attitude in him, as if an emotional weight was lifted from his shoulders as she watched as he embarrassedly scratched the back of his head while eye smiling;

"Well you see . . ." the blonde began before he was interrupted by his pupil

"Wait a minute, where's your dragon?" asked the wolf-tailed warrior as he finally noticed the giant lizard that accompanied his master;

"Shen's gone," said the blonde without hesitation, causing the three of them to look at him in shock.

"What you mean 'he's gone'?" asked Aang, believing the worst

"Turns out that Shen wasn't a dragon after all, but two spirits combined into one," explained the blonde as much as possible without revealing too much . . . yet. His friends' eyes widen in shock;

"And as to why I'm not in Omashu . . . . welllll, let's just say that I got lost on the road of life," quickly said the blonde with an eye smile while embarrassedly scratched the back of his head, causing the groups' eyebrow to twitch while developing a sweat drop at the back of their heads.

Then suddenly, Chong began to pave back and forth with his hands on head, reminding team avatar that they weren't alone;

"The tunnels . . . they're changing. It must be the curse. I knew we shouldn't have come down here," said the earth nomad, causing Naruto to look at him comically before he looked at his friends;

"Is he high on mushrooms or something," asked the blonde as he pointed at Chong, only to receive an answer in a form of shrugging shoulders from his pupil. Then suddenly, Naruto turned towards the direction he came from as he stepped in front of Katara in a protective manner;

"Naruto, what's wrong?" she asked as she got closer to him

"Shh, can you hear it," whispered the blonde only to receive confused looks from everyone;

"Hear what? I don't hear anything," proclaimed Sokka before a loud wail was heard throughout the cave, causing everyone to tense up. Momo jumped from Aang's shoulder and flew towards Appa as he hid within the luggage.

Everyone stared into the darkness for a few seconds before out of nowhere, a creature flew from the shadows as it attacked, causing everyone to duck and cover in hopes of avoiding the creature.

"It's an ugly thing with fangs and teeth!" shouted Chong

"No! It's a wolf bat!" announced Moku in fright as he saw the creature land onto the ground only to pounce back into the air as it re-launched its attack.

Sokka tried to scare the beast away as he fanned the candle flame, but the wolf-bat knocked the torch out his hand, landing on top of one of Appa's paw's as he roared in pain and ran amok as he ran into the walls of the cave, making it crumble as he created a small cave in.

Everyone, for some reason stayed in their place as they covered themselves using their hands, but Naruto saw that no one was watching him and quickly thrust his fist forward and caused a torrent of wind to push the earth nomads along with Sokka and Aang to the other side of cave. After making sure they were safe, he turned towards Katara and sprinted at her with great velocity as he scooped her up in his arms and followed the sky bison to the opposite of the cave. After gaining a good distance, Naruto turned back only to watch the pathway getting blocked by the cave in. Once they tremors of the cave-in had subdued, the blonde turned towards the sky bison with a sour look on his face;

"Nice going fur ball," said the blonde only to receive a grunt from Appa and a slap on the chest by Katara;

"Leave him alone, not his fault that Sokka dropped the torch on his foot," defended the water-girl as she mock glared at the blonde. Then she turned towards the blocked pathway, "What do we do now?"

"We keep moving forward and find the way out," replied the blonde as he gently put Katara down;

"But what if we get lost in the labyrinth?" asked Katara as she stared at the blonde, who simply smiled at her;

"Don't worry, we will," said Naruto as he soothed her worries as he lit up a candle torch and began to walk down the tunnel;

"I wonder how Aang and Sokka are doing," wondered Katara

- \ . / -

Back with Aang and Sokka, both sprawled on the ground along with the nomads. Sokka quickly sat up and saw debris. Letting out a sigh of relief, he looked at Aang as he got up to his feet;

"Thanks Aang, that was some quick thinking on your part," complimented Sokka, but he only earned a confused face from the young Avatar;

"But I didn't do anything Sokka," admitted the boy, causing the wolf-tailed warrior to be the one confused now;

"What are you talking about Aang? It had to be you, I mean; you're the only one who can air-bend," said Sokka franticly

"Do you think it was possible that Naruto was the one who air-bended us away?" asked Aang while scratching his head but only got an 'are you serious' look from Sokka;

"Aang, Naruto isn't a bender," reminded Sokka as he turned around and caught sight of the nomads and quickly made a dash for the fallen rocks, trying to dig his way out to get away far from them as much as possible.

Chong smiled and looked at Sokka,

"Yea it's now use, we are separated. But at least you have us," announced the nomad happily as he raised his instrument only to make Sokka scream loud before he went to digging, only to cause some of the rubble to fall on him, covering him completely with his twitching hands being the only thing visible.

- / . \ -

Back with Naruto and Katara, both heard the scream that Sokka had let out.

"Does that answer your question?" grinned the blonde, causing the girl to giggle

- \ . / -

Meanwhile, Zuko and Iroh are trying their best to survive on their own. Things are not so easy for the formerly pampered characters though; Zuko cannot find food while Iroh makes tea with the dangerous white jade bush in the wild after mistaking it for the legendary white dragon bush, the latter of which "makes a tea so delicious, it's heartbreaking". He then finds a plant with either bacui berries, which can cure him, or macahoni berries, which will blind him. Zuko tells him they aren't taking any more chances and throws the berries away. After thinking about whether they should go to an Earth Kingdom town, which would risk capture and a quick execution or going to a Fire Nation town, which would risk them in being captured and turned over to Azula's master and suffer a slowly and painful death. The both looked at each other with their minds made as they decided to travel to an Earth Kingdom village for medicine and food and if comes to worst, a less painful death.

After walking through the forest for a while, the two come across at a nearby town, where Zuko and Iroh meet a friendly girl named Song. When she sees that they aren't from around the area, she asks who they are. Zuko says his name is Lee and Iroh's name is Mushi; a displeased Iroh gets him back by saying Zuko was named for his father so they call him Junior, making Zuko grimace. Song invites the two to her house for dinner that evening, but the banished prince declines politely, but when Iroh hears that Song's mother was making roast duck, he takes up on her invitation.

- / . \ -

Back within the cave, Naruto and Katara been walking for almost an hour, trying not to get lost as more than they already are, however, it seemed that lady luck wasn't on their side since they came across another divided pathway. Katara looked between the two and let out an exasperated sigh;

"Which way?" she asked as she turned towards the blonde.

Naruto looked back and forth between the two pathways before he kneeled down and closed his eyes while he placed his palm onto the ground, sendin chakra pulses throughout the cave as he used his earth-bending to create in his mind a sonar map of the labyrinth. After the first waves of chakra, Naruto had already a complete layout of the mountain. He could 'see' Aang, Sokka and the earth nomads were a couple of feet across from them from the other side of the walls. He could 'see' the creatures that looked like oversized moles scurrying underneath the mountain, he could see the pathway on the right led to another dead end but the pathway on the left led to a room chamber. Opening up his eyes, the blonde stood up and pointed with the torch towards the left;

"We go that way," announced Naruto, making Katara look at him with wary and confusion

"And how do you know that?" but received a knowing smirk from him;

"Let's just say I have a gift that allows me to see things that the eye sight can't show me."

Katara just stared at him with more curious intensity, something that the blonde did notice;

"Eh . . . something on my face?" asked Naruto unsurely, but the girl just shook her head;

"No, just that I couldn't tell till now, but something seems different about you like you're more at peace," claimed the girl. Naruto closed his eyes as he let out a sigh;

"On my way here, I accidently stumbled across the ruins of my old village," began Naruto, making Katara regret her probing, but suddenly was surprised by his bright smile, "And I'm glad I did, because I was able to talk to my loved ones once more and be able to move on."

Katara didn't say anything as she followed the blonde. After wandering around the tunnels for a while Katara had been debating herself whether or not should she tell Naruto of the way she felt;

"_Maybe I should tell him,_" debated Katara in her mind as she bit her nail, "_I mean, we are alone and Aang and Sokka aren't here to interrupt us,_" then her eyes showed concern, "_But what if his feelings aren't the same,_" she doubted, but shook her head comically, "_Mustn't think like that, I mean, if he didn't feel the same, he wouldn't have allowed me to stay with him in his room before we went to battle at the north pole or he wouldn't have hugged like he did after the battle or every time he left us, he could've told either Sokka or Aang, but I'm the first one he seeks out._"

"Katara!"

The girl was snapped out of her thoughts by the blonde as she stared at him standing in front of a blocked entrance. Seeing this, the water-tribe girl smiled;

"Naruto! You found the exit!" she said but was suddenly stopped by the blonde as he handed her the torch, "What are you going to do?"

"Stand back," warned the blonde before he took a wide, slated with his left hand forward and his right hand cocked back for striking. Taking a deep breath, the blonde burst as he stroke with his right hand right in the center of the wall, caving in his fist slightly in as t he cracks on wall began to spread till the wall crumbled into the ground. Smiling at his handy work, he turned back towards the girl, only to see her with his mouth slightly open and eyes open wide in shock;

"What?" asked the blonde with an amused grin

"How are you able to do that? Someone who isn't an earth-bender wouldn't be able to bring down a wall of earth that thick," said Katara, but all she was that same grin;

"I told you before, there are things about me that you don't know," reminded the blonde, "And if you were to learn of those things, I don't know how you would react."

Katara was shocked by his statement;

"Is that why you're emotionally at a distance," she stated more than asked, but the blonde didn't say anything as he walked in first, to scout the room to make sure it wasn't booby trapped. However, Katara wasn't going to let it end right there as she followed Naruto right after, only to crash against his back;

"Why did you stop?" she asked him till she began to look around the room, disappointment swelling within, "This isn't the exit."

"No, it's a tomb," clarified the blonde softly as he stared at the tombs down below. Katara tugged his vest, causing the blonde to look at her only to find her pointing at the stairs that led below to the tombs. Nodding at Katara, both of them walked down the stairs, their eyes not once leaving the tombs. Once they reached the bottom, Katara walked further than Naruto to get a closer look;

"This must be the tombs of the two lovers from the legend," said Katara, earning a raised eyebrow from her companion;

"Legend? What legend?" asked the blonde. Katara looked at Naruto weird till she slapped her head, "That's right; you weren't with us when Chong told us about this passage and the legend behind it."

Naruto then noticed something on the pedestal where the tombs were resting and walked closer to inspect it better as he kneeled down. Katara looked over his shoulder to get a view of what had gotten the blonde's attention.

"If my guess is correct, these carvings tell the story of the two lovers," suggested the blonde as he traced the carvings with his fingers.

Once she got a clear view of the carvings, she began to read while the blonde quietly listened;

"They met on top of the mountain between the two villagers, but the villages were enemies, so they could not be together. But their love was strong and they found a way.

The two lovers learnt earth-bending from the badger-moles and became the first earth-earth benders. They built a labyrinth tunnel so they could meet secretly. Anyone who tried to follow them would be lost forever.

One day, however, the man didn't come. He died in the war between the two villages. Devastated, the woman unleashed a terrible display of earth-bending power. She could've destroyed them all, but instead, she declared the war over. Both villages helped her built a new city where both could live together in peace.

The woman's name was Oma and the man's name was Shu.

The great city was named OmaShu as a testament of their love," finished Katara. Naruto stood up along with Katara after listening to the story, looking back as a monument caught his sight. Katara looked at the blonde and saw him staring behind them, causing her to look back as well only to slightly gasp at the painting of the two lovers kissing one another, an engraving in the middle of the two lovers;

"Love is brightest in the dark," murmured Katara while Naruto place his hand against the wall as he closed his eyes and sent a stronger chakra pulse throughout the mountain, giving a complete layout of the labyrinth.

"_Now . . . let's find the way out,_" thought the blonde with a grin but was stopped before he could begin as Katara spoke;

"Naruto . . . I have an idea," commented Katara shyly, with her back facing the blonde. Naruto looked at the water-bending girl with curiosity as he raised an eyebrow and detached his hand from the wall as he walked closer towards her, "It's a crazy idea."

"What is it Katara?" asked the blonde as he watched her rub her arm nervously before she shook her head;

"Never mind Naruto, forget I said anything," said Katara with disappointment in herself, but then she let out a soft gasp when she felt his hand gently being laid on her shoulder and turned to see the blonde with a small smile on his face;

"Come on Katara, you can tell me anything," assured the blonde; causing her to fidget a bit before she grew her resolve;

"You know how the curse says that we'll be trapped in here forever unless we trust in love," began Katara, making Naruto's eyes widen, having an idea as to where this was going;

"Right."

"And here, it says that love is brightest in the dark," continued the girl, gesturing at the monument, which Naruto looked at also before his eyes widen even more as to what she was implying, "And it has painting of them kissing."

Looking back at her he implied;

"Are you suggesting that we kiss?"

"See, told you it was a crazy idea," said Katara as she turned away from the blonde, laughing nervously while Naruto scratched his head, not sure as to how to approach the subject;

"_Oh boy, how do I approach this?_" asked the blonde mentally, but only grinned in response;

"I mean can you imagine us kissing?" she asked with uncertainty, but she only received a small laugh in response. She looked at him a bit peeved, "What's funny Naruto?"

The blonde shook his head as he placed his hand in front of him;

"Nothing, just that I thought that you would have preferred to kiss Aang instead of me," admitted the blonde, making the girl to look at him with surprise;

"What made you think that?" she asked

"You are over protective of him and noticed how you fancied him when we first met," responded the blonde, but Katara shook her head;

"You're right, I may be over protective of him because I consider him family and I did fancy him at one time," she replied as she looked away from his eyes, "But as we continued with our journey, I came to realize that my feelings for Aang would be nothing but that of a sibling, he's a little brother to me."

Naruto stayed silent for a couple of seconds, carefully choosing his next words;

"If that's how you feel about Aang," began the blonde softly, "Then how do you feel towards me?"

At his question she looked up into his eyes once again, "At first . . . I just saw you as our friend, but then, I slowly began to feel captivated by you," she answered, but paused for a second while she closed her eyes and slightly turned her head to side as she tried to place her thoughts into words, "And as you continued to accompany us in this journey, this feeling of admiration I had for you continued to grow as you always came to our aid. At first I didn't know what this feeling was that I felt towards you," then slowly turned towards him with a small tinge of pink adorning her cheeks as she slowly approached him, "But after the battle at the North Pole and the conversation we had on the ship, I came to realize that my feelings for you go beyond of friendship."

"Despite of what the fortune teller told you about your mystery betrothed?" asked the blonde, curious as to what her reply would be as he watched her reach out with her hand and gently cupped his left cheek;

"Despite her words, I cannot deny of what I feel," she responded tenderly, "And also, for some reason, I can't explain it but I feel that there's something about you that's especial."

At her words, the blonde couldn't help but flinch a bit with a downcast look as he avoided her gaze;

"Katara . . . there are things about me that I want to tell you-" he was suddenly interrupted by the water-bender as she forced him to look at her and softly placed her fingers on top of his lips, giving him a small smile;

"Naruto, while you chose not to tell us about you or your past, we understood that it was for a reason," said Katara, "Just know that no matter how dark or bad the secret you keep hiding, we won't abandon you, I won't abandon you."

At her words, Naruto couldn't help but feel overjoyed, but at the same time just as guilty. Then softly he cupped her hand that was touching his cheek and softly looked at her with a small smile;

"I just pray to the spirits that on the day that you, Sokka and Aang learn of the whole truth about me, you'll remember those words," said the blonde before he took her hand and softly kissed it before he turned back towards the stairs and walked up to head out of the chamber, leaving a shock stricken Katara behind as she stared at his retreating form before she followed right after.

- \ . / -

Back with Iroh and Zuko, the two could be found inside Song's house as she and her mother prepared the table for them and their two guests. During the meal, Song tells the duo that during a raid on her village, the Fire Nation captured her father, causing Zuko to feel slightly guilty. When she asks Zuko whether his father is fighting in the War, Zuko says that he is, but does not tell her that his father is actually the Fire Lord. Feeling his emotions getting the best of him, he excused himself as he went outside while Iroh just watched in sadness.

Moments later, Zuko sits on the front porch of Song's house and a few moments later, Song comes out of the house and sits next to Zuko, noting that the Fire Nation has hurt him. When she tries to tenderly touch his scar, Zuko rebuffs her. She then shows Zuko a burn on her leg caused by fire-benders, sympathizing with him and showing him that the Fire Nation hurt her as well. Zuko seems shocked by her injury.

After the two of them ate their meal, Zuko and Iroh depart from Song's residence. While Iroh thanks the family for their excellent meal, Zuko steals the family's ostrich horse for easy traveling. Iroh tries to convince his nephew not to do it, saying that it betrays their kindness but in the end, he hops on reluctantly anyway, after Zuko kept on insisting. Unknown to the two of them, Song witnesses this event, but does not stop them, instead just closes her door, seemingly disappointed, as Zuko and Iroh leave.

- / . \ -

Back within the labyrinth, Aang and Sokka, along with the nomads, continue to find dead-ends in their quest for the exit, and are eventually confronted by a pair of enormous badgermoles, who corner the group, as one earth-bended a small fissure, causing Aang and Sokka ot get separated from the nomads. Seeing that they were in trouble, they try to escape as they both separated as well, but the wolf-tailed warrior accidentally strums a dropped guitar, producing music. The angry badgermole pauses, intrigued, and Sokka, realizing that animals become passive when hearing music, tries to play a song to hopefully pacify the beast. Aang looks at Sokka with a weird expression till he heard a soft rumble coming from the beast, both, the avatar and the nomads quickly realize what he is doing, and contribute their talents. They are successful in taming, or at least pleasing, the badgermoles, who take them to the exit of the labyrinth.

However, with Katara and Naruto, the two of them have been walking within the labyrinth for the past four hours in silence, neither one saying a word after their talk back in the tomb chamber. As they continued walking, the blonde was tempted to earth-bend themselves out, since for some unexplained reason, every time he had the right path towards the exit, somehow the mountain itself shifted and made him run into a dead end;

"_What in the blue hell is going on here!_" shouted a frustrated blonde within his mind a he pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to remain calm. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes as he kneeled down once again and used his chakra once more to create a map within his mind only to see that the path they were on led to many directions with no destination. Snapping his eyes open the blonde was about to yell in frustration till he heard Katara calling out his name;

"Naruto."

Said blonde turned back towards the girl on to see her staring at the almost extinguished torch. Standing up to his feet, the blonde approached her with lamented eyes;

"We are going to run out of light any second now, aren't we," stated Naruto. Katara just nodded her head;

"Yes, I think so."

"_If the flame does go out, I may have to use earth-bending to get out of here,_" thought the blonde as he looked towards the path until his eyes widen, "_Unless . . ._"

"Naruto, what are we going to do?" asked Katara as she stared at him.

The blonde looked back at Katara and right there, he made up his resolve as he slowly approached her and gently took her hand into his, causing her to look at him with surprise;

"Katara . . . do you trust me?" asked the blonde as he gazed into her eyes

"I trust you Naruto," Katara replied back without hesitation as she got closer to him, allowing him to wrap his arms around her waist as she wrapped her around his neck, dropping the torch while doing so.

The light that the flame illuminated the cave slowly faded away as their faces came closer and closer till . . . finally their lips met just as the flame had completely faded away.

The darkness lasted for a few seconds till suddenly, the cave was lit by glowing crystals on top of the cave. Katara's and Naruto's lips broke apart, but not from each other's arms as they both stared in amazement at the crystals;

"I guess this is how the two lovers found each other," mused the blonde with a small smile

"They just lit the crystals and followed them," seconded Katara as she followed the trail, "And look, that must be the way out!"

Nodding, Naruto scooped Katara up into his arms and looked back towards the flying bison;

"Try to keep up, alright," said the blonde, only to receive a low growl. Then he looked at Katara with a grin;

"And you, hold on tight," Katara just nodded her head and wrapped her arms tightly around Naruto's neck before said person dashed through the cave, following the illuminated path.

- \ . / -

With the crystals showing the way, it didn't take long for Naruto to reach the exit a he and Katara saw the light shinning at the end of the cave;

"Look! There's the exit!" shouted Katara with joy till they both walked out of the labyrinth.

Gently, Naruto placed Katara on the ground and looked as Appa happily let out a moan/growl as he stood on its hind legs and dropped flat on his back. Katara then looked around for any signs of her brother and Aang, but could not find neither one nearby;

"Where are Aang and Sokka?" questioned the girl before they felt a small tremor and the walls of the cave exploding. Both covered their faces using their forearms and waited for the debris to disperse. Once everything was cleared, Katara and Naruto saw two badger-moles standing in front of them and on top of them, Aang and Sokka rode on one while the nomad rode on the other;

"Aang! Sokka!" shouted Katara again happily as she ran up towards them and gave them both a hug.

"How did you guys get out?" asked Sokka as he broke apart from the hug, only for Katara to grow a faint blush as she recalled what happened between her and Naruto inside the cave;

"We just did what the legend said, "Let love show you the path."," answered the blonde as he approached them, noting the downcast frown the young Avatar had on his face, but chose not comment on it as it went unnoticed by the two siblings;

"Really? We let giant ferocious beasts lead our way," commented Sokka as he turned back waved to the retreating badger-moles. Then suddenly, a thought occurred in his mind as he turned back towards the blonde;

"Naruto, are you an air-bender?" asked Sokka, causing Katara to blink owlishly at him while Naruto raised an eyebrow at him;

"What makes you say that?" asked the blonde, thinking that he had made sure that no one had seen him blow Sokka, along with Aang and the nomads towards safety during the cave in.

"Is just that I thought that Aang was the one that air-bended us to safety, but he admitted that he wasn't the one to do so and there's no other air-benders around besides him and Katara is a water-bender, so that left you in our group," concluded Sokka as he and the blonde stared at one another, but luckily for Naruto, Katara came in;

"Sokka, that's ridiculous. We've seen Naruto fight before and not one has he used any form of bending," defended Katara, "And he told me himself that he isn't a bender anyway."

At this, Naruto couldn't help but wince as he recalled that night at the campfire when he first met the group and told Katara that he wasn't a bender.

Aang stayed silent during the whole conversation as he stared at Naruto suspiciously, but the jealousy within him was strong that he went to talk to the nomads while Naruto stared at his pupil funnily till he noticed something on his forehead;

"Sokka . . . why is your forehead all red?" asked the blonde as he quickly changed the subject only to have his answer when Sokka slapped his forehead once again when Chong told them not to freak out due to Aang being the Avatar, causing Naruto's eyebrow to twitch a bit as he leaned closer to Katara;

"I'm beginning to think that this guy is really high on some good stuff," whispered the blonde, causing Katara to giggle in her hand and both watched Chong bidding farewell to Sokka before he began to play his instrument, singing happily as he walked down the road his fellow nomads had gone.

Soon after the farewells, the group didn't take long to head towards Omashu as they walked up the mountains, telling the blonde of the amazing sights that the city had, including the delivery system, which Naruto grinned like an idiot, proclaiming that the first thing he is going to do is go sliding, causing Aang to beam at the idea, quickly forgetting about him and Katara being alone inside the labyrinth;

"Just wait Naruto, you're going to be amazed once with arrive into the city," proclaimed the wolf-tailed warrior as he was leading the group uphill while Naruto just chuckled;

"I'll take your word for it Sokka," said Naruto as he looked towards the sky to see the position of the sun, but then, he suddenly stopped when something else caught his eye, making everyone else stop as well as they stared at him confusedly;

"Why did you stop Naruto?" asked the young Avatar, but did not get an answer as Naruto suddenly ran up the hill at high speed till he reached the hill top and just stood there. The rest of the gang ran up hill as well in order to see what was going on only to meet a horrid sight;

"Oh no," murmured Sokka in shock

"This can't be," gasped Katara

"We are too late," muttered the blonde as he stared at the city of Omashu covered in smoke with the Fire Nations' flag hanging at the entrance of the city.

"I can't believe it," said Aang as he stared at the fallen city, "I know the war spread far, but Omashu always seemed . . . untouchable."

"Up until now it was," commented Sokka as he crossed his arms with a frown on his face, "And now the only stronghold the earth kingdom has left is the city of Ba Sing Se."

"There's nothing we can do now," abruptly said the blonde with a solemn look, "We have to move on and search-"

"No," rudely interrupted Aang as he sharply turned towards Naruto with a glare before he turned back once again towards the city, "I'm going in to find Bumi."

"Aang, stop!" shouted Sokka, trying to reason with the kid, "We don't even know if Bumi is . . ."

"What?" angrily retorted Aang as he turned and glared at Sokka, "If he's what."

"Dead."

The group turned towards the blonde with mix reactions; Aang heatedly glaring at Naruto while Sokka and Katara glaring at him for his insensitivity, but Naruto ignored them as his attention was still on Omashu. Turning towards the young Avatar, he took a sigh;

"Aang, you need to stop being naïve and accept the realities of war," calmly said Naruto as he stared into the kid's eyes. Then he turned towards the siblings with a glare, "And I know you two are thinking that I'm being heartless for saying such things, but the fact of the matter is, the quicker you accept the reality, the less pain you'll feel as you move on," then Naruto's eyes softened as he looked towards the city once again, speaking in a soft tone as he remembered the time when his mother figure told him of Jiraiya's death, "but it doesn't mean that it'll be easy to do so."

The three of them didn't say a word after that, since they could feel the amount of sadness his words carried, but Aang wouldn't budge;

"I'm sorry Naruto, but even if there's a small chance that Bumi is still alive, then that's all I need. I will not leave a friend behind," replied the young avatar with conviction as he stared fiercely into Naruto's eyes.

The blonde just passively stared into the kid's eyes till a small grin broke into his face. Closing his eyes he chuckled till he reopened them and stared at Aang once more;

"If one of my former masters were to hear to say that, he would have been proud of you," commented the blonde, "He used to say that those who broke the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are lower than scum," then he grew slightly serious, "Now the question is . . . how do you plan to break in without being detected."

Aang's eyes widen as an idea popped into his mind;

"OH! I know of a shor cut!" only to receive a bop in the head; courtesy of Sokka;

"And you didn't say anything about a shortcut the first time!"

Sometime later, Appa was flying over the edge of the lower part of the mountain while Aang tried to pry the gate off of a sewer pipe, only to get it open after a few tries just to have the nasty water spill all over the ground, causing most of the group to wince at the horrendous smell. Naruto turned towards Sokka while pinching his nose;

"Would you have used this short cut last time if you knew that it was a sewer pipe?" question the blonde;

"Hell no!" retorted Sokka back as he watched Aang jump first into the sewer followed by Katara. Begrudgingly , Sokka jumped in as well while Naruto hadn't even made an effort to follow them, which it didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the group;

"Naruto, what are you doing? Let's go," urged Aang only for the blonde to shake his head;

"Stop being a baby Naruto, I mean, sure the smell is bad but you it won't kill you," antagonized Sokka only to receive a glare from said blonde;

"It's not that moron, I'm gonna infiltrate into the city to gather some intel on to who is running the city and if he hasn't been killed by the Fire Nation, find out where they are keeping Bumi," informed Naruto as he prepared to jump up the mountain;

"But how are you going to sneak in?" questioned Katara, "there could a lot of soldiers roaming around the city and if you were spotted, you wouldn't be able to take them all on."

Naruto then stared at the three of them with a serious look;

"As I stated before; where I come from, we are trained assassins that work from the shadows," reminded the blonde before his face broke into a cocky grin, "And from the looks of things, I bet these chumps couldn't find me within the city even if I was hiding in broad daylight."

With that, the blonde banished in a whirl of leafs, leaving the group on their own;

"Did you guys knew about Naruto being a trained assassin?" asked Aang as he stared at the siblings only for Sokka to shake his head;

"I knew," admitted Katara

"Really? Since when?" asked a surprised Sokka

"When we got separated at Jeong Jeong's camp, Naruto got injured and I ended up nursing him back to health. We ended up talking and he told that in his village, he was a shinobi, a trained assassin that would follow the leaders command without question, even if it meant killing."

At this piece of information, Sokka and Aang grew suspicious;

"If Naruto is a trained assassin that would kill without question, then what would stop him from killing us?" asked Sokka, causing Katara to gape at her brother in disbelief;

"What the hell Sokka! You doubt him after you practically begged him to train you!" yelled Katara

"Katara, he has a point!" defended Aang, causing the girl to turn her glare at him, "I mean, what if he is an assassin that was hired to kill us by the Fire Nation and only pretended to help us so we could lower our guard and strike us at the given moment."

Katara just stared at the two of them in anger and disbelief. Without saying a word, Katara walked ahead of the two, but before she stopped abruptly a couple of steps away from them;

"I trust Naruto for he has had many chances to kill us in the past since he has proven that we have no possible chance of stopping him, even if we tried, from killing us" began Katara as she spoke with such coldness that caused them both to flinch, "But you don't have to worry about other shinobi coming after us."

"What makes you say that Katara?" asked Aang, a little peeved that she would defend him so gallantly

"Because the Fire Nation made sure that his people were eliminated," answered Katara, causing both of them to gasp, making them feel guilty and ashamed for questioning their friend's loyalty.

The trio stayed in silence for a minute till Katara walked off ahead of them.

- \ . / -

It had taken Aang and the siblings the whole day to climb through the sewer pipe as Aang blasted the cover of the hole as he jumped out only to see that they were back at the market place of the city. Turning back towards the pipe hole, he noticed that Katara was climbing out and reached out to help her, but only received a cold glare as she hadn't forgotten the argument they had earlier as she pulled herself out of the hole;

"We are within the market district," stated Katara only for her to turn back towards the pipe hole as she heard a loud moan/groaning sound only to watch some sort of green blob monster climb out, scaring Katara and Aang as the monster approached them. Katara quickly looked around for a source of water, only to find a barrel full of it and quickly used it to attack the monster, only to wash the slob off to reveal Sokka trying to pull of some sort of pinkish looking mini octopus as he screamed hysterically only to be tackled by Aang;

"Stop making so much noise or we are going to be spotted!" whispered Aang, "It's just a purple pentopus," showing him how to detach the little critter as he softly rubbed the head softly, causing the little critter to squeal.

Seeing how Aang did it, Sokka began to take off the rest of the critters that were attached to his neck, leaving the suction cup marks all over his face and neck.

"Hey!"

The trio looked at the source of the voice only to find a couple of Fire Nation soldiers approaching them. Quickly, Sokka and Katara stood in front of Aang who used an orange rag nearby to make a make shit hat to cover his arrow.

"What are you kids doing out past curfew?" questioned one of the soldiers

"My apologies, my dumb brother thought it was fun to sneak out of the house after curfew," said Katara as she bowed to the soldiers, "We'll return at once to our home."

The trio quickly turned to get away, but then one of the soldiers called them out;

"Wait a minute, what is the matter with him?" asked another soldier as he pointed towards Sokka, causing them to flinch as they had no valid excuse until Katara quickly came up with something;

"He has pentapox sir," informed Katara as the soldier approached Sokka with his hand extended, only for her to grab him by the wrist, causing the soldier to glare at her while the other two readied their spears, "It's highly contagious."

Catching on her lie, Sokka began to cough uncontrollably to make it believable only for the soldier to growl at them;

"Do you take me for a fool!" shouted the soldier as he tore his wrist from Katara's grip and grabbed Sokka by the scruff of his vest as the soldiers slowly approached them with their spears pointing at them.

Then suddenly, Sokka began to foam at the mouth while blood began to drip from the nose and the corner of his eyes as they turned yellow along with his skin turning pale, causing the soldier to let go of Sokka as he retreated with other two;

"Get away!"

"Run for your lives!"

The trio just watched confusedly as the soldiers ran for dear life only to watch them disappear around the corner.

"What just happened?" asked a confused Aang

"I don't know," answered Katara just as confused

"I guess I managed to pull off my act after all," boasted Sokka only to hear chuckling up from above, causing the three of them to look, only to find Naruto standing upside down on the roof.

"No, your act completely sucked," said the blonde as he jumped off the roof and skillfully landed in front of them, "What happened was they were trapped within a gen-jutsu."

"A gen-jutsu?" question Katara, to which Naruto nodded;

"Yup, an illusion that causes the mind to see things that aren't really happening or not there at all," informed the blonde till he turned towards Aang, "And I have good news for you, Bumi is alive and held captive somewhere near within the city, but if I were to guess, I would say he is being held underneath the governor's mansion."

Aang beamed at the news;

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go bust out Bumi!" shouted the young avatar as he dashed past the blonde, but was abruptly stopped as Naruto grabbed Aang by the back of his shirt;

"Hold on! I said it was a guess, and even if he was, we are talking about a Fire Nation governor, meaning someone who has a lot of soldiers protecting him," informed the blonde, but Aang was about to retort only to keep his mouth shut when Naruto shot him one of his glares, "Look dimwit, we have the element of surprise, if we go and barge in to save your friend, then every soldier within this city will be looking out for us," clarified the blonde, but wasn't finished, "Also, while the Fire Nation occupies Omashu, they are using the people for labor in order to supply their ships and the Fire Nation will target the people as prime suspects for harboring us. Our best bet is to find the rebel faction of this city and take it from there."

The gang was surprised at the amount of information Naruto had gathered;

"Naruto, how do you know all of this?" questioned Katara who just received a grin in return;

"I'm just that awesome of a shinobi," was the reply before he grew serious, "Now let's go and find the resistance."

The three of them nodded their heads as they followed the blonde through the streets of Omashu.

- / . \ -

Meanwhile, a week had passed on Azula's ship, the Fire Nation's princess was sitting on her bed as while wearing her night gown as she watched the moon high in the sky, rubbing the bruise that was barely visible on her cheek, courtesy of her Uncle;

"_Ohhh I'm going to get him back for that,_" thought Azula as she stopped rubbing it and contemplated her situation;

"_That bastard,_" thinking angrily of her master as she rubbed her side.

After Iroh had escaped from their failed attempt at capturing him, Sasuke had rigorously put Azula into training for the whole week, claiming it that she was still weak for letting some washed up general such as Iroh to have managed defeating her before he left on a special mission given by her 'darling' father.

"At least he'll be gone for a while," muttered the princess as she gently laid back on her bed, resting as she stared at the ceiling, "But despite with him being gone, I still haven't figured out where to begin my search for _him_ and with the royal procession following me, there's no doubt in my mind that he would not hesitate to attack if he were to see them once found," then her face turned into a small scowl, "And also, there's no doubt that the soldiers are more loyal to my master than they are to me, no matter how sadistic I act. And if one of them was to learn of my plan, I would be ratted out and be at Sasuke's mercy."

Turning upside down on her bed, she tightly held her pillow as she buried her face in it as old memories came into her mind but quickly shook them away she sat on her knees, the gown coming off at the shoulders, revealing a decent amount of her cleavage to give a certain perverted toad sage a good imagination for his books. Slowly, she got off her bed and walked towards her balcony, not bothering to cover up her shoulders as she leaned against the frame of her door with a small grin on her face;

"Well . . . if I am to track _him_ along with my bubbly uncle and idiotic brother without attracting much attention to myself, then I'm going to need a little elite group of my own," said Azula as her grin widened more, "It seems that is time to visit some old friends."

- \ . / -

Back with Naruto and the gang, they were moving through the shadows as they avoided any soldier that crossed their path, reaching the monument that was being built in honor of Fire Lord Ozai. While hiding behind stack of wooden planks, the blonde poked his head out as he looked around to scout any soldiers nearby, but when he looked at the lower level of the monument, he saw a woman carrying a baby with a teenage girl that had small buns of hair on her head while two long strands of hair ran down over her shoulders being escorted by the soldiers as they took out a stroll on the night.

"Who are they?" asked Sokka as he saw them by looking over the blonde's shoulder;

"That's the governor's wife and children," answered the blonde, causing Sokka's eyes to widen;

"Then what are we waiting for! We capture them and make them tell us where Bumi is or at least hold for a trade off," suggested the wolf-tailed warrior only to receive a heated glare from his master;

"I may have killed Fire Nation soldiers Sokka, but I do not condone harming a defenseless woman or an innocent child," retorted the blonde back angrily until he felt the ground tremble and looked up to see boulders falling down the rail at high speeds towards the escorting party down below. Without hesitation, Naruto jumped in front of the falling boulders and launched a spinning kick as the boulders approached him, causing them to explode into dust, gaining the attention of the party below;

"The resistance!" shouted the woman

"Fuck me," muttered the blonde as he watched the girl that stood beside the woman quickly threw arms forward, launching a series of mini kunais at him, only to miss as the blonde jumped back.

"Defenseless woman huh!" criticized Sokka

"Not now Sokka! Run!" ordered Naruto as he jumped off the planks and ran with the group, trying to lose the pursuing soldiers.

Katara wasted no time to use her canteen water against the soldiers as they were thrown off to the lower level while the girl gave pursuit and attacked by launching her arrows, only for Katara to block them as she made a wall of ice and made a run for it. The girl still persistent in her chase as she jumped over the ice wall, following them as the group ran under an arc with still pipes holding wooden boards on the side. Aang quickly had an idea as he waited for Katara to cross over before using his air-bending to demolish the stands and hopefully stop the girl on her tracks.

Mai seeing that she could no longer give pursuit, she decided to throw one of her knifes at the most categorized threat, that being Naruto, while his back was still turned towards her but only to gasp in surprise when said blonde simply turned around and caught her stilettos between his fingers;

"_He's skilled to sense and catch my knife like that,_" thought Mai.

Then suddenly, the four of them vanished from her sight as she saw the earth platform beneath them being pulled underneath while another platform took its place. Letting out a sigh, Mai saw no point of standing there as she returned back to her mother.

However, back with our heroes, after being transferred underground, the group found themselves surrounded by earth-bending soldiers of Omashu.

"Avatar Aang, it is great to see you again, although I wish it were under better circumstances," greeted one of the soldiers with a bushy beard as he helped the Avatar get on his feet;

"Thank you and where are we?" asked Aang as he looked around;

"We are under the city, it's an underground path built by King Bumi himself when the war first broke out," replied the same soldier as he gestured the group to follow them, "Follow me, we must return to camp."

As they were walking, Naruto walked closer to Katara, leaning forward towards her ear;

"You guys never mentioned that this Bumi was the king of the city," whispered Naruto only to cause the girl to look at him sheepishly;

"Sorry, I guess with everything that has been happening, we kind of forgot to tell you," replied the girl

It didn't take them long to reach camp, as they saw many tents laid out with some of the villagers and soldiers alike staring at them as they walked through;

"So . . . is Bumi with you? Is he leading the resistance?" asked Aang hopefully, but the soldiers' solemn look told Aang that he wasn't;

"Of course not!" growled the soldier, "The day of the invasion, we readied ourselves for battle, but we were unprepared for the foe that arrived to our footsteps."

"Why? Were you guys outnumbered?" asked Sokka with interest, but the soldier just shook his head;

"No, a single soldier from the Fire Nation managed to take siege of the city in one day, we were no match for him as dozens upon dozens of our finest soldiers fell to him and his accursed flame;" replied the soldier as he clearly remembered that day as most of his comrades were cremated alive by his flames, "King Bumi surrendered himself in exchange of not harming the people of Omashu."

Naruto began to feel uneasy in his stomach as he made his presence known to the soldier;

"Did by any chance this fire-bender wielded black flame?" asked the blonde as he stared right into the soldier, causing the same soldier with most of the soldiers nearby to narrow their eyes at the blonde while Aang, Sokka and Katara stared at him in shock;

"Yes, how did you know that?" another soldier asked the blonde suspiciously, but didn't receive an as the blonde ran his hand across his hair with a look of barely uncontrollable rage, walking towards the wall as he placed his hand on it for support.

No one said a word as they watch the blonde or dared to approach him, all except one.

Katara knew that he lost his family to this fire-bender, but he didn't tell her how in exact details. Slowly, she approached him in hopes of calming him down and just as about she was to put her hand on his shoulder, she flinched back when Naruto suddenly punched the wall . . . HARD!

The entire wall cracked as parts of the wall fell to the ground while Naruto's arm was buried up to the bicep, breathing heavily as he tried to control his anger;

"_Soon Uchiha, we will face one another and I swear it, you will face judgment,_" were Naruto's thoughts as he pulled his arm out, taking deep breaths to calm down.

"It doesn't matter who it was that attacked us," declared the leading soldier, "Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom and freedom is worth dying for."

"There is another path to freedom," announced the young avatar, "You can leave Omashu. You're putting all of your energy to fighting the Fire Nation."

"Especially when you're severely outnumbered, if you guys go out and fight, only a massacre will happen" Naruto voiced in his opinion as well, "Listen to the Avatar and retreat so you guys can live to fight another day."

"Neither of you understand! They've taken our home and we have to fight them at any cost!" declared the soldier as he made forceful hand motions for added emphasis.

"I don't know Yoh, living to fight another day sounds pretty good right now," said the soldier next to him,

"Yea, I agree with the two of them," another soldier jumped in, causing the leader of the resistance to look at the people in camp, his mind made up;

"Fine, but there's thousands of citizens that need to leave, how are we to get them all out?" questioned Yoh

Sokka was trying to formulate a plan till an idea came into his mind. He turned towards the blonde;

"Naruto, how big of an illusion can you cast?" causing the blonde to raise an eyebrow;

"Depending how big you want it, my energy reserves are sufficient enough to cast out a massive illusion over the city, why?"

Sokka's grin got wider at the response then he looked the rest of the group;

"Sokka what are you planning?" asked Katara

"We are about to get a serious case of pentopus," announced Sokka, causing the blonde to grin at him.

- \ . / -

Azula was walking around the festival as she looked at the exotic animals they had on display, but the animals weren't the reason she was here or the person she was looking for. Just as she turned around the corner, she let out a grin as she found the person she was looking for;

"Ty Lee . . . could that possibly be you," announced Azula as she approached a girl wearing a pink get up that revealed her toned mid section with a long pig-tail and brown eyes;

"Azula!" said the girl excitedly as she got off from her finger stand and ran towards the girl to greet her with a hug.

"Don't let me interrupt . . . whatever you were doing," said Azula, watching Ty Lee do a back flip so she could position herself on her elbows with her back being arch forward so that her feet could reach her head, "But tell me, what is the daughter of a noble man doing here. Certainly our parents didn't send us to the royal fire academy for girls to end up in places like this," she finished as she saw tamers struggling with a platypus-bear only to stand up after it laid an egg.

Kneeling down, Azula neared Ty Lee;

"I have a proposition for you," declared Azula, "I'm searching for my fuddy duddy uncle."

"Oh he was so funny," said Ty with a giggle till she looked at Azula with curiosity, "But why are you searching for him? Word travels fast of his betrayal and how he barely managed to escape your master," she finished with a shudder, that man really gave her the creeps, "Are you trying to capture them as well?"

Azula shook her head;

"No, I can't go into exact detail, but I really need your help on this Ty Lee," said Azula, almost (keyword: almost) pleadingly;

Ty Lee wanted to help her friend but she really didn't want to be around her master;

"I'm sorry Azula, but I cannot help you-" but was interrupted by the princess

"Ty Lee, you do recall the time I had to go on extreme measures in order to have you help me out, don't you," reminded Azula with a sweet grin on her face, causing the acrobatic girl to blush in embarrassment for she remembered quite clearly what Azula did to her a couple of years ago;

"You wouldn't dare," growled Ty Lee as she stood up, glaring at the princess while Azula's grin only got wider;

"Try me," challenged the princess as her grin never wavered.

Ty Lee glared for a few more seconds till she finally sighed and gave in;

"Fine, I'll join you," said Ty Lee and quickly was hugged tightly by the Fire Nation princess;

"Thank you Ty Lee, you and Mai are the only ones I trust wholeheartedly," said Azula softly, feeling the circus girl return the hug;

"I'm your friend Azula, you know you can always count on me or Mai," whispered Ty Lee just as softly, but then she grew a smirk on her face, "Azula! Look! There's a rodent over-''

''RAAAT!'' Azula broke the hug as she jumped up and fired a fireball at the ground, scorching the ground, ''Did I get it?'' She asked as Ty lee burst out laughing.

"I see some things haven't changed," laughed the acrobatic girl.

"Ha ha ha," Azula laughed dryly while having . . . disturbing thoughts going through her mind, "_I could kill her now, but the problem is there's no place to hide the body . . . or I could always . . ._" then a dark, sweet smile appeared on her lips, "You know what Ty Lee, before we leave, I'm going to catch your show after all, I hope you don't mind."

An expression of panic spreads over Ty Lee's face as she faces away from Azula, losing her grip on her leg, but quickly recovers and grips her leg once more, a sad and worried expression on her face;

"Uh . . . yeah . . . sure . . . uh . . . of course . . ." answered the girl with uncertainty, regretting pulling the prank on her friend, "_Why did I use her fear of rodents! Stupid!_" (**A/N**)

- / . \ -

Back on Omashu, Sokka along with Aang and Katara, went back to the sewers to collect as many pentopus as possible to give the entire population a makeover. While Sokka and the soldiers were Aang and Katara were a couple of feet from the mass of people, the former looking around for any signs of their blonde haired friend;

"Katara, where's Naruto?" asked the young monk

"He's around the city, he said something about drawing seals on parts of the city to make the illusion last longer without him having to maintain it," was the girl's curtly reply, causing the young Avatar to cringe at the tone of her response;

"You are still upset with us, aren't you," stated Aang softly, but Katara simply looked at him with indifference;

"Right now that is not important, we'll discuss that after we have all the villagers out of the city," said Katara before she walked off towards her brother, causing Aang to slump his shoulders down as he heard Sokka give out instructions of making their sickness believable. Then Aang quickly remembered of his captive friend and quickly shook his head to clear it so he could focus at what he intended to do;

"She's right, there're more important tasks at hand," muttered the young monk as he turned to the opposite direction of the march;

"Aang! You're not coming with us?" asked Sokka as he approached his friend, but to stop once the monk turned at him;

"No, I'm not leaving till I find Bumi," replied Aang before he air-jumped to the nearest roof and roof-hopped across the city.

And just as Aang left, Naruto suddenly appeared in front of them via shunshin;

"We are set to begin," informed the blonde as he stared at the group, but then his eyes blinked when he noticed one person was missing, "Where's Aang?"

"He went to look for King Bumi," replied Sokka, causing the blonde to slap his hand into his forehead;

"That idiot," muttered Naruto. Then he looked at the two, "For our sakes, he better not be stupid enough to infiltrate the mansion."

"Why's that?" asked the girl

"Because the security around the mansion just doubled after last night's attempt on the governor's wife and kids," answered the blonde, causing both of them to gasp, "We need to start the evacuation now so that everyone has their focus on us, allowing Aang to move freely within the city."

Sokka nodded, "Cast the gen- whatever you call it."

"gen-jutsu dumbass," muttered the blonde as he made a single hand sign, activating the seals he placed around the city as it cast the illusion all over the city.

On the governor's mansion, on one of the balconies, the governor, his wife and their baby son, along with Mai and some guards enter the balcony as they heard the alarm being sounded while some of the soldiers kept shouting 'plague'.

"What is going on down there?" asked the governor

"Last night, some of my soldiers reported that some kids were wandering around and one of them was ill with pentopox," informed the soldier

"Pentopox? There's no such thing!" stated an irritated governor.

"I thought the same thing, but then they elaborated that one of the teens began to foam at the mouth and his eyes turned yellow as his skin turned pale while blood seeped out of the corners of his eyes and nose," further informed the soldier, causing the governor and his wife to gasp in shock.

"Oh, this is terrible," Amora, the governor's wife stated as she leaned and clinched on her husband's arm.

"What should we do?" asked the guard

"Drive them out of the city . . . . but don't touch them! We have to rid the city of this disease before it can't spread to our men!" ordered the governor.

The guard bows and leaves. Mai offers her father the bowl she is carrying as if nothing had ever happened;

"Fire flakes, Dad?"

Her father looks at her strangely, but no one noticed the baby toddling away from the group.

Meanwhile, at another part of the city, Aang air-bends himself through the city looking for Bumi, only to stop after finding another dead end;

"Where are you Bumi?" muttered Aang as he closed his eyes, then reopened them as he turned his sights towards the governor's mansion, "Something tells me that you are in there, but Naruto's right, it's too risky."

Sighing in defeat, the young avatar was about to leave so he could meet up with his friends but from the rooftop he stood on, he saw Flopsie, chained to a millstone as he stood his hind legs, Fbeing forced to push the turnstile that drives the mill. All alone performing this backbreaking task.

Aang jumps down; "Flopsie!"

Aang stands with his hands outstretched to receive a hug, but Flopsie is restrained by his chain, making unhappy noises while trying to reach Aang. Frowning, Aang jumps onto the turnstile, water-bends some water from a nearby cistern and freezes it around the chain where it is connected to the turnstile allowing Aang to break the chain with his staff. Now Flopsie lunges forward, scooping the young monk in a hug and licks him.

Aang laughed a little before he broke out of the animal's hug and climbed on top of Flopsie;

"Come on, Flopsie, we have to leave and meet up with the others, Yip Yip!" said Aang as he pointed with his staff forward but nothing happened as Flopsie just stood there, causing Aang to scratch his bald head, "Oh . . . I guess that doesn't work with you, let's go!

Hearing the command, Flopsie takes off at high speed into the streets of Omashu.

- \ . / -

While Aang was heading back towards the meeting point, Momo was flying through the air and landed right in the Governor's palace of all places. Upon entering through a window into the Governor's baby son's room, the flying lemur sees a little teddy bear bouncing up and down over the top of a set of art or dressing panels near the back of the room, which is filled with toys.

But what really catches his attention is a platter of berries on a nearby table and jumps over to it. He begins to eat the berries and spitting the seeds over the art panels. Cut to the baby who stops throwing the teddy bear around when he notices the seeds falling around him. Being the curious kid that he is, the baby crawls around the panel and underneath the table Momo is sitting on. Upon seeing tail of the lemur hanging at the edge of the table as it wagged from side to side. The child is captivated by it, he reaches up and grabs Momo's tail, pulling him to the ground in mid bite.

The lemur desperately tried to get away but all he managed to do was drag the child behind him. The child lets go and Momo runs out onto the railing of the balcony. He turns to see the child, still laughing and smiling, has followed him. He lunges for Momo's tail once again, but misses. Momo flies off, but the child falls down the tiles of the roof beneath them and lands in a box of berries traveling down one of Omashu's many chutes.

One again thinking with his stomach, Momo lands on the box of berries and begins eating again, only to have the child emerge from the berries behind him. Momo looks over in some horror at the child, who grabs his tail before he can react. The lemur jumps into the air, beating his wings frantically trying to get away. Finally, the box drops off beneath them as it drops down another chute. The lemur manages to get the airborne, but can't bear the weight for long and ended up dragging on the floor of a nearby plaza. The child lands on top of Momo, pinning him to the floor as he tried to crawl out of the child's weight.

Suddenly, a host of moaning Omashu citizens begins to pass by them. Momo gets up and runs after the citizens, trying to get away from the baby, but the baby ends up following the lemur out of the city's main gate.

- / . \ -

At the mean time, back at the circus, Azula was given special treatment as she got VIP seats;

"We're deeply honored to have the Fire Lord's daughter at our humble circus" announced the Circus Master with a bow, "Tell us if there is anything we can do to make the show more enjoyable."

"I will," Azula replied while thinking of a few things in her mind

Up above on one of the platforms we come to Ty Lee wearing colorful clothing and a golden tiara like head piece doing a head stand using one hand holding a short stick. This stick in turn is balanced on top of what looks like the frame of a small tent. Incredibly, this tent frame, in its turn, balances on a high wire.

"Incredible," praised the princess, "Do you think she'll fall?"

"Of course not, Ty Lee is our most acrobatic and aerodynamic performer after all," The man said confidently, not noticing the princess too sweet smile forming on her lips'

"Then wouldn't it make it more interesting if you removed the net?" asked Azula as she turned towards the Master

"Uh . . . the thing is . . . the performers . . ." He began saying with concerned, but at the same time with fear of not wanting to anger the Fire Lord's daughter.

"You're right, you're right. That's been done," dismissed Azula as she thought of another way of entertainment, till it hit her; "I know, Set the net on fire," ordered the princess while a thought was running through her mind, "_That'll teach her to make false claims about rats._"

"Of course, Princess," said the Master with a defeated tone as he stands and shoots a gout of flame at the net which promptly catches fire.

Up above, sweat pours down Ty Lee's unhappy face.

"Brilliant, just brilliant!"She looks back down at the Circus Master once more, "Oooo, what kind of dangerous animals do you have?"

"Well, our circus boasts the most exotic assortment-" began to the Circus Master, but was interrupted by Azula before he could finish;

"Release them all!" she ordered

"_I knew I shouldn't have used her fear of rats to prank her,_"thought a terrified Ty Lee as she watched all hell breaking loose from above. **(A/N)**

- \ . / -

Back at Omashu, the evacuation plan worked as most of the villagers were gathered at the mountains, camping and rejoicing at being free. Then Aang showed up as he walked with a frown on his face while Flopsie made grunts, tired of running all across the city to the mountains. Katara and Sokka saw him and quickly went to him;

"I looked everywhere except the mansion and I didn't find Bumi," said Aang depressingly, causing the girl to hug him out of comfort.

Katara may have been less upset with Aang and her brother from doubting their blonde friend, but she could not stand seeing him sad due to the possibility of Bumi being gone, she already saw that once when the young monk found out that his people were killed.

The beast made sad noises at not being able to find its master and Sokka hugs him to comfort the animal.

Then the resistance leader walks up to the group with a serious face;

"We've got a problem," announced the leader, "We just did a head count."

Katara gasped as she thought the worse;

"Oh no, did someone get left behind?"

But her answer was answered by the blonde as he approached them with the governor's baby boy in his arms;

"No we have an extra," said the blonde as he winced when the kid pulled on his hair

Meanwhile, back at the balcony of the mansion, we can see the governor's wife crying on a chair with Mai just standing beside her, reaching within her sleeve to pull a hanky chief. Her mother gratefully took it as she wiped away the tears and blew her nose;

"So . . . the plague was just a ruse and the resistance has kidnapped my son," muttered the governor as he stared out at the gates the people of Omashu had walked out of, "Everything so clever, so tricky. Just like their King Bumi."

"What you want to do sir?" asked one of the guards. The governor simply turned to him with sad eyes and didn't say a word as his attention came back to the mountains outside of Omashu.

Back on camp, Naruto, along with Aang, Sokka, Katara and the leader of the resistance sat around a bon fire they made, contemplating on what to do with their . . . . little situation. Speaking of which, the kid was baby walking as he chased after Momo, but then he fell on his behind right in front of Sokka's weapon. The baby taking a liking to the weapon grabbed it and began to play with it as he put it in his mouth. Sokka, being an ass, snatched his weapon back from the kid;

"No, bad fire nation baby," remarked Sokka as he slightly glared at the baby, causing him to wail like any child would after having their toy being taken away.

Katara simply turns to her brother passively and smacks him across the head, placing her hands on her hips while glaring at him;

"Ohh alright," whined Sokka as he begrudgingly gave the baby the weapon back. The kid just cooed as he got his 'toy' back. The cuteness of the kid made Katara squeals as she leaned forward and hugged the baby from behind;

"Ooohh you're so cute," said Katara in a motherly tone as she playfully kissed his cheek, causing the baby to giggle

However, the leader of the resistance just stared at the whole thing with a small frown;

"Sure he's cute now, but when he's older, he'll join the Fire Nation army. You won't think he's so cute then, he'll be a killer," said the leader harshly

"You may be right," muttered the blonde, causing his friends to look at him in surprise, but ignored them as he continued, "At the rate this war has been going, he will be taught to fight and kill people from other nations, because that's he'll learn from the people of today," then he looked at the leader, "The actions you, I or anyone else makes today will affect the children of tomorrow, for they are our legacy after we're gone from this world," then he softly looked at the baby that was crawling towards him, "But if we end the war and teach them about peace and companionship, then the four nations would enter a time of peace."

No one said anything after that; the only sound being made was that of the baby making grunting noises as he was getting a little cranky. Katara's motherly instincts kicked in as she stood up and picked up the cranky boy into her arms, trying to calm him down as she softly rocked him side to side, but it only made it worse as the kid looked like he was ready to wail loudly.

Naruto slowly stood up to his feet and dusted off the dirt from his pants, walked up to Katara slowly and signaled her to give him the baby. Looking at the blonde curiously, she handed him the baby and watched him as he gently placed the baby in his arms. Using his shoulder as a form of a pillow for the baby while Naruto had one arms around the baby's back while using the other for support, slowly the blonde made humming noises as he closed his eyes while barely, softly rocking the baby;

_**Close your eyes  
Have no fear  
The monster's gone  
He's on the run and your daddy's here**_

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful  
Beautiful boy  
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful  
Beautiful boy 

Naruto began tosing, the baby suddenly wasn't moving around as much as he was entranced by the lullaby.

_**Before you go to sleep  
Say a little prayer  
Every day in every way  
It's getting better and better**_

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful  
Beautiful boy  
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful  
Beautiful boy 

Katara couldn't help but smile softly and gaze lovingly at the sight that was before her. Right then and there, she knew that Naruto would be a good father to his children as she watched the baby's eyes growing heavy as he tried to stay awake as Naruto simply continued his rhythm with his lullaby;

_**Out on the ocean sailing away  
I can hardly wait  
To see you come of age  
But I guess we'll both just have to be patient  
'Cause it's a long way to go  
A hard row to hoe  
Yes it's a long way to go  
But in the meantime **_

_**Before you cross the street  
Take my hand  
Life is what happens to you  
While you're busy making other plans**_

Naruto simply looked at the child and noticed that the baby was putting his thumb into his mouth as he rested his head on his shoulder. Smiling softly he decided to finish the lullaby as he gently walked towards Katara once more;

_**Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful  
Beautiful boy  
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful  
Beautiful boy**_

_**Before you go to sleep  
Say a little prayer  
Every day in every way  
It's getting better and better **_

By now, the baby was completely asleep by the time he reached the girl, seeing her questioning expression as she stared at the baby, he nodded his head and gently handed her the baby as he squatted a little bit, due to him being a bit taller than Katara. The girl gently wrapped her arms around the baby and softly took him from Naruto's arms as the blonde sang the last words of his lullaby;

_**Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful  
Beautiful boy  
Darling, darling, darling  
Darling son . . .**_

Naruto took a few steps back as he saw Katara handling the baby with care, bringing a smile to his face as he saw her tending the baby with delicacy. Then suddenly, the mood was changed when they heard the wails of a messenger hawk landing on top of the hill just above them.

Naruto quickly jumped high to reach the hawk and opened the compartment to retrieve the letter. The blonde quickly scanned the letter and raised his eyebrow at its contents. Quickly, he jumped back down with the letter in hand and the hawk surprisingly on his shoulder, approaching the group;

"What does the letter say Naruto?" questioned Aang

"It's a letter from the governor himself," informed the blonde, gaining surprised looks from those around him, "He believes that we kidnapped his son and wants to make a trade."

"What kind of trade?" Sokka asked this time

"His son for King Bumi," was the blonde's reply, but the way his face contorted with a pensive stare as he stared at the letter. Katara quickly took notice;

"You think it's a trap," stated the girl as she still held on to the baby;

Naruto nodded his head as he neared to his supplies and pulled out a brush with a small container full of ink and began to write a reply;

"Yes, but we are going to make the trade none the less," informed the blonde as he stood up once again and placed the letter back on the compartment, releasing the hawk back towards the city, "But I'm the one that's going to make the trade while Aang accompanies me. You and Sokka are to stay hidden above the skies among Appa in case it does turn for the worst and need to make a quick getaway," then he looked at the leader of the resistance, "You're to remain here with the villagers, without King Bumi being among them, they are going to look at you for strength and guidance," then he placed a hand on the leader's shoulder, "Be strong for them and lead them well."

The leader nodded his head, no hint of fear or doubt in his eyes.

"Get some rest, for tomorrow we are all going to need all of our strength," ordered the blonde as everyone nodded and walked away.

Katara just watched as the blonde walked up the edge of the hill and stood there as he gazed at the moon. Turning towards Appa, the girl gently laid the child on the creature's fur, letting out a soft, happy sigh as the child snuggled deeper into the fur. Katara then walked towards the same direction as the blonde, standing beside him once she reached him. Both of them didn't say a word as they both gazed upon the moon.

"That was a beautiful song you sang," commented Katara without looking at him;

"Thanks, it was a lullaby I came up with for my son when I was told I was going to be a father," replied the blonde without looking at her as well.

Again, silence befell both of them as they continued to gaze upon the moon.

"Naruto," began Katara softly

"Hmm?" hummed the blonde

"You would not keep any secrets from us, would you?" asked Katara as she turned to face him.

Naruto turned to face her as well with an unreadable face, knowing where this conversation was heading. Letting out a sigh, the blonde turned to fully face Katara, prepared to tell her a bit of the truth, but not the whole truth just yet;

"Katara, I'm sorry but there are a few things about me that I've kept a secret from you three," admitted the blonde, causing the girl to widen her eyes in disbelief, but Naruto quickly raised a hand to stop any outbursts from her, "I kept them a secret for a reason."

"And what reason would that be?" asked Katara, her voice laced with a bit of betrayal

"To protect you three," answered the blonde, watching as the girl's eyes widen even more before they narrowed in anger, but Naruto didn't let her start as he glared at her before continuing, "Katara, you may have not known it, but just by me traveling with you three has put you guys in greater danger than before," then he pointed towards the city of Omashu, "If you think that the whole Fire Nation is a threat, then that's when you're mistaken, because there is someone out there that is more dangerous than the whole nation combined."

At this, the girl's eyes widen in shock and fear.

"The same fire-bender that conquered the city of Omashu is out there looking for me," finished the blonde as he turned to face the occupied city.

"But why would he be only looking for you? I mean, Aang is more of a threat to him since he is the avatar," argued Katara, but Naruto just looked at her with a sad expression on his face;

"Katara, at the moment I cannot reveal as to why he's focused on me, but I promise you that I will reveal everything to you, I just simply ask you to trust me as you have come to trust me in the past," said the blonde, almost pleadingly at the end.

Katara looked to the side as she felt the doubt within her, but one thing was certain, and it was that no matter what the situation, the blonde has never given a reason to not trust him. Turning towards him as she squarely looked at him the eye she spoke;

"I trust you Naruto, for you haven't given me a reason not to," then her gaze soften, "But please, don't break it."

And with that, Katara slowly turned away as she began to walk back towards Appa in hopes of getting some sleep, leaving the blonde by himself at the edge of the hill as he watched her walk away. Letting out a long, tired sigh, he turned towards the moon once again.

- / . \ -

Meanwhile, back at Omashu, Azula and Ty Lee were making their arrival as the royal court carried their carriage up the stairs, awaiting at the top of the mountain was Mai, with a bored look on her face.

"Please . . . tell me you're here to kill me," said a humorless governor's daughter as she bowed to her friend, only to look up with a smirk and both, her and Azula broke out in a fit of giggles as the two embraced each other. The two broke apart and Mai turned towards the acrobatic girl, who quickly embraced her as well;

"I thought you ran off to the circus, saying that it was your calling," questioned Mai, only to be released by her friend while smiling widely;

"Well, Azula called a little louder," responded Ty Lee

Then Azula grew serious as she approached her to friends;

"I have a mission and I need help from the both of you," began Azula, but Mai beat her to the punch as she quickly volunteered;

"Count me in! Anything to get out of this hell hole," commented Mai with distaste while Ty Lee looked at Azula with curiosity;

"Azula, what is this mission you're partaking in, you didn't say much back at the circus," questioned Ty Lee

"I promise to tell you both of what my mission is, but first I have to talk to your father Mai," commented the princess as her gaze ended at Mai's direction;

Said girl simply shrugged her shoulders in a non-caring fashion;

"Go ahead, just try not to break him too much with your act," suggested Mai, knowing full well of her "bitch" attitude mask.

Later on, Azula confronts the governor, who pleads with her and asks for forgiveness as he explained the situation with the resistance. However, Azula, using her mask, tells the governor he's making a mess of things and also corrects him that there is no more "Omashu", renaming the city in 'honor' of her father: the city of New Ozai while in her mind, she mentally gagged at said proclamation. As for the trading, Azula decides that Mai will handle the trade, that way she wouldn't have to worry about any nuisances.

After the meeting with governor, Azula and her friends retreated into her given room by the governor, quickly locking it so no uninvited guests would barge in. Mai and Ty Lee looked at the princess with puzzled looks;

"Alright Azula, what is going on? What's this so called mission of yours?" questioned Mai

Azula sighed as she gazed at her two friends with dead seriousness;

"My mission to take down Sasuke Uchiha," she replied, causing both girls to gasp, a look of shock and fear adorning their faces;

"Are you mad!" shouted Ty Lee, shivering in fright as she remembered the few times she met the man, nothing but a complete void of darkness in his aura, "We are talking about your master! A fire-bender that is more feared than your grandfather, Fire Lord Azulon ever was! How do you expect us three take down someone like that!"

"Normally I wouldn't agree with her, but Ty Lee's right, we are no match him," Mai voiced in her opinion as well, knowing full well the hatred she harbored for said person, "Azula, you're taking this vendetta against him too far."

That comment had awakened a fury within the princess;

"Too far!" snarled the princess with ferocity as she glared at Mai, "It's because of him that my family is torn apart! It's because of him that Zu-zu and I don't have our mother with us anymore!" then her gaze softened as she looked at the floor, muttering softly, "It's because of him that I had to push my brother away."

Both girls didn't say anything, knowing full well the complete story of Azula's dysfunctional family and at the center of it, her master was cause of it all. **(A/N)**

"Azula, do you even have a plan on how to even take down your master?" questioned Mai, only to receive a nod in response;

"Yes, we are going to go search for the crimson avatar," announced the Fire Lord's daughter, causing both of her friends to have a shocking look on their faces again, believing that she may have finally lost her senses;

"Um . . . Azula, I hate to break it to you, but the Avatar of Four Dragons is just a myth," Ty Lee announced carefully, not wanting to upset her friend, but the princess just shook her head;

"No he's real alright," informed the princess, "He was last seen at the North Pole as he battled the fleet that that fool General Zhao commanded, only to meet their defeat at his hands."

"So there are two avatars?" asked Ty Lee, gaining a nod from her friend;

"Yes and we are going to go look for him," commanded the princess with all seriousness

"Azula, what makes you so sure that the crimson avatar is capable of defeating your master?" questioned Mai, only to receive a grin from her;

"Let's just say that Sasuke has been a bit disturbed at his appearance at the North Pole and when I asked him what was so special about him, let's just say he shared with me something very interesting," informed Azula.

- ) ( Flashback ) ( -

_On Azula's ship, the princess was seen practicing her lightning manipulation above deck by herself, wincing as she could still feel the bruises that her master had given her during her training sessions, his attacks had become more ferocious during said sessions just as his demeanor had been differently after he learned of the failed attempt at the North Pole, seeming to get worse and worse with each passing day. Suddenly, she heard marching footsteps coming from the stairs that led to the helms master. Coming out of the stairway as her master, Sasuke Uchiha, carrying a small traveling pack over his shoulder as he walked towards his student._

_Azula firmly stood up before she bowed toward him as he neared her till he stood a couple of steps away from her;_

"_Azula, I'm leaving you in charge of the fleet," announced the Uchiha coldly, gaining a look of surprise from her;_

"_You're leaving master?" questioned the apprentice. He only nodded at her, "May I ask where you going master?"_

_The princess only received the famous Uchiha glare;_

"_That is none of your concern Azula, your only priority is to search and capture your traitorous brother and uncle," ordered the Uchiha much more coldly than usual before he began to walk towards the ramp that was stationed on port, but suddenly stopped as he looked over his shoulder with a glare, "A warning girl, if you are ever to come across a man with glowing red marking on his body, do not engage him or I would hate to tell your father about your demise by his hand."_

_Azula cautiously watched Sasuke;_

"_What's so special about this individual?"_

_The raven haired Uchiha fully turned towards Azula as he gazed at her with a stoned face;_

"_Tell me child, what you know about the Avatar of Four Dragons?" questioned the Uchiha, only for the princess to look at him strangely;_

"_Only what the legend says; he is the one that created the four disciplines and taught one of each to each of his disciples. Later he disappeared without a trace," answered the princess, "But he's just a myth."_

_Sasuke gaze hardened when she said that;_

"_Foolish child, the Crimson Avatar is real and he has awakened to stop this war," declared Sasuke, causing Azula to gasp in shock;_

"_But master, why is he such a big concern to you? I mean, the last air-bender is the avatar as well and while he does represent a threat to the Fire Nation, he doesn't seem much of a threat to someone like you," concluded the princess._

"_The last air-bender is of no concern to me for he doesn't have the power or skill to defeat me," said the Uchiha, some-what arrogantly, "The crimson avatar, however, is the only person among the four nations that is able to match me in power," admitted the Sasuke as he turned away from her with closed his eyes before he reopened them again, his sharingan active as it spun, softly muttering, "But mark my words, I will not make the same mistake, he will fall by my hands and I shall reign victorious." _

_Unaware that Azula had actually hear him._

- ) ( End Flashback ) ( -

Mai and Ty Lee didn't say a word after Azula had told them of her master's words;

"So our main objective is to find the crimson avatar, plead our case and hope that he won't kill us for being Fire Nation citizens," summarized Mai before she shrugged her shoulders, "Why not, it's better than being here bored out of my mind."

"But where do we begin our search?" asked the acrobatic girl, "We don't even know what he looks like or where is his current location?"

"That's simple, we just look for a fire-bender that wields white-fire," said Azula dismissively with her hand, but her face told them otherwise;

"What's on your mind Azula?" asked Mai

"What Sasuke said to at the end has been bothering me for a while now," responded the princess, "'this time there will be a victor,' if I didn't know any better, I would say that Sasuke had faced the crimson avatar before and the outcome of their battle ended in a draw."

"Now you're talking crazy Azula, the crimson avatar is supposed to be very, very, very, old. There's no way that your master could have lived during the ancient times," argued Ty Lee.

The princess looked like she wanted to argue the point, but decided against it as she shook her head;

"You're right, it's probably his paranoia talking," suggested Azula, "Let's get some rest girls, for tomorrow we have to deal with the resistance."

Both girls nodded as they stood up and to their respective rooms.

- \ . / -

Next day, at the base of Lord Ozai's statue, Aang, Naruto and a kage bunshin holding Tom-Tom waited patiently for the governor's party to arrive with King Bumi in tow. Up above, Sokka and Katara rode on Appa, being the backup Naruto suggested in case things were shot to hell;

"You sure this will work?" asked Katara as she glanced the two down below before turning towards her brother;

Sokka nodded his head;

"Of course it will work," commented Sokka without bothering to look up, "This is Naruto we are talking about, if they don't want to hand over Bumi, he'll just kick their asses and we'll take the king back by force."

The girl didn't say anything as she glanced back down below.

Across from them, the party had arrived as they walked up the stairs to the platform where Aang and Naruto were at. The blonde quickly analyzed the newcomers, trying to see which of the three a major threat was as his eyes scanned them only to land on the girl on the far right. He quickly noted the way she carried herself, confident and silently;

"_She seems to be more skillful out of the group, but I still would not disregard the other two,_" thought the blonde as he narrowed his eyes at the other girls, "_Something tells me that this is going to take a bad turn for the worse._"

"Aang," said the blonde as he gained the attention of the young avatar, "Be on your guard, especially with the girl on the far right, she's the most dangerous one of the three."

Aang slowly nodded his head, turning his attention back on the three girls.

Stopping a couple of feet away from them, the girl that Naruto recognized as the governor's eldest daughter raised her hand, signalizing to lower the iron coffin where Bumi was being held at, snorting/laughing all the way down like a maniac;

"Hi, everybody!" announced Bumi happily

Naruto just sweat-dropped a bit at the back of his head as he eyed the King of Omashu being set behind the girls;

"He's . . . odd," said Naruto

"Yes he is, but he's also a good friend," said Aang with a smile

"You brought my brother?" asked Mai, snapping the two out of their own conversation.

Naruto stepped forward;

"He's here, unharmed," announced Naruto as he gestured for the clone to step forward, showing Tom-tom as the baby giggled.

"We're ready to trade," followed Aang impatiently, gaining a stern look from the blonde, causing the young monk to look sheepish.

Shaking his head in disapproval, Naruto turned towards the clone and nodded his head.

Getting the message, the clone began walking towards the girls, but as soon as he was halfway, Azula jumped in front of her group and shot a massive flame ball at the clone, dispersing it as soon it was hit with. The eyes of everyone present went wide in shock while Azula held a passive face till her eyes turned towards the blonde, who just narrowed his eyes at the girl as soon as he got over his shock and noticed her glare;

"I don't know how you know that technique, but you will not fool me with the illusion layer on the that shadow clone," stated the Fire Nation princes, causing the blonde to glare dangerously at her;

After hearing Azula's words, Mai looked at Aang and Naruto with a hard eyes and instructed the king to be hoisted back again;

"Tell me girl, is your master's name by any chance Sasuke Uchiha?" asked Naruto, his eyes steeling as he saw the flinch from the three girls, "That's all I needed to know," and Naruto simply slid into a boxers stance with two kunais in habd, while Aang, began to feel uneasy as the blonde began to leak killer intent and watched the girls prepare themselves for the unavoidable brawl that was about to happen.

"How do you know that name?" demanded/hissed Azula as she took her fire-bending stance;

Naruto ignored her question and turned towards Aang;

"Go ahead and free your friend," said the blonde, his sights back on the three girls, "I'll handle them."

"But Naruto-," Aang's argument was cut short when said blonde shot him a glare that made Aang almost use his air-bending to get away, but just shakily nodded his head and jumped high in the air using his air-bending to land on one of platforms and use it as a spring board to reach Bumi.

Azula saw his intentions and from her position, she jumped into the air and twisted her body so she could launch a rising kick, launching the flame towards Aang, but the young monk managed to avoid the attack at the cost of his rag coming off, his arrow showing for everyone to see, causing Azula to gasp in surprise;

"The avatar!" exclaimed Azula as she prepares to run, but a thrown kunai stopped her on her tracks.

"You're not going anywhere," as he rushed towards her with his right hand cocked back and delivered a punch on the spot she was standing on. As soon as Azula landed beside her friends, Ty Lee raced towards the blonde to engage him in tai-jutsu as she stroke with jabbing fingers, to which the blonde blocked without problems as he parried or swatted the hits, a frown appearing on his face as he dodged another strike as he used the acrobatics' forward momentum and used her head as a spring board to land behind her, but quickly reached into his pouch and threw six kunais towards Mai, his kunais meeting Mai's throwing knifes in mid air as a loud clang was heard. Azula tried to blind attack him from the side as threw a flame cover punch, but Naruto parried the punch upward, launching her blue flames into the air and countered attack as he kicked her in the midsection, sending her back towards Ty Lee.

Naruto kept his guard up as he stood in the middle and looked between Mai on his left and Ty Lee and Azula on his right, but his sights mostly ended up on Ty Lee;

"_That style she's using . . . it seems familiar,_" thought Naruto

- / . \ -

Up above, Sokka and Katara watched as Naruto engaged the three girls;

"He needs help, let's go," suggested Katara as she was about to instruct Appa to land, but Sokka grabbed a hold of her arm, "What are you doing? Can't you see he is outmatched?"

But she calmed down when she saw her brother's look;

"Let Naruto handle them," said Sokka without taking his eyes of the fight, "Something tells me that this fight has become a little personal for Naruto and if we go down there to help, we might end up getting in the way in the end," turning towards his sister, "Besides, Aang has already fled with Bumi, we need to find him to get the king out of here."

Katara looked back at Naruto with worry, but her brother was right. Making a decision, she grabbed Appa's reigns;

"Appa, let's go find Aang," ordered Katara as the sky bison took off, Katara looked back at the form of the blonde, "Please, becareful."

- \ . / -

Back with Naruto;

The blonde assumed his stance once more as so did the rest of the girls, but his eyes gained a surprised look when Ty Lee slid into a stance that was familiar to him.

"_Juken,_" thought the blonde as he narrowed his eyes, "_If that girl knows how to use the gentle fist without the Byakugan, then I need to finish this battle as soon as possible._"

Without warning, Naruto turned towards Mai and threw several kunais at her. Mai being caught off-guard had no time to block as the kunais found their mark and pinned her on wood platform. Naruto quickly reacted as he sidestepped a fire attack and watch Azula rush at him with her elbows covered in flames. Jumping into the air, the fire princess delivered an downward elbow strike, but blocked with his forearm, however, Azula didn't stop there as did spinning elbow strike, but Naruto ducked, but his eyes widen in surprise when she Azula attacked him with a flame covered knee strike. Quickly, the blonde covered himself with both of his forearms and block the attack, but he didn't react fast enough to avoid Azula clinching both her hands behind his head and continue the strikes;

"_So . . . He taught her my original fire-bending style,_" thought the blonde as he slightly winces when another knee met his forearm. Waiting for the right moment, Naruto sent an elbow strike of his at Azula's uncovered mid section as soon as her leg was brought down and followed with a knee strike of his own, causing the princess to stumble backwards a bit and gasp when Naruto's elbows were covered in flames as well as he attacked with a downward right elbow, followed with downward left elbow strike. Azula managed to evade both attacks by jumping backwards to gain some distance, however, she didn't counted on being hit on the stomach once again with a flaming stomp to the chest, sending her skidding on the ground.

"That hurt," muttered Azula as she winced when she touched the burning mark on her armor, her eyes not leaving her target as sweat poured down her face, "But how does he know that style."

However, Naruto was preoccupied with Azula, that he had forgotten all about Ty Lee, for she took advantage of his lack of attention and snuck to his left side and managed to land a few solid hits on his arm, rendering useless as his arm went limp on him. She was about to attack his right arm, but Naruto didn't allowed her to do so as he grabbed onto her stretched arm and pulled her towards him, nailing her with an elbow thrust right on the chest, sending skidding right next to Azula, who had managed to get on her feet shakily;

"You, girl," said Naruto as he pointed towards Lee with his usable arm, "How do know of Juken and be able to it without the Byakugan."

Ty Lee's eyes widen;

"I found a scroll that held the basics of it and trained myself to be efficient in it be memorizing the body's chakra and vital points," her eyes narrowed, "How do you know that it requires that?" demanded Ty Lee as she slowly stood up to her feet, but the blonde didn't answer as he poked the spots where Ty Lee had hit him. Her eyes widening even more when she saw him being able to use his arm once more;

"You're very skillful, I'll give you that, however," said Naruto as he slid into the advanced form of Juken, "You have yet to reach Juken's true power," then his eyes narrowed, "Both of you are within my division, Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō!"

Naruto's hands became blurs as he attacked the both with precision on each chakra point of their bodies, immobilizing them as he hit some of the nerves as well. With a final shout, Naruto ended his attack with a palm thrust to their chest, sending them flying a few feet back, landing with an audible thud.

Azula tried to stay conscious, but her vision started to become blurry as she saw her opponent approaching her and kneeling down next to her;

"I want you to deliver a message for me," began the blonde, "Tell him that I'm coming for him and when we meet, there will be hell to pay."

Azula only watched with awe and fear as Naruto's eyes slowly turned crimson till her vision had turned black.

Seeing that all three of them were unconscious, Naruto quickly vanished from the battle ground, not wanting to stick around whenever the soldiers arrived. Seeing as he didn't have any other reason to stay within the village, he evacuated the city and met up with the resistance back in the mountains. When he got here, he saw that Aang, Sokka and Katara had already arrived. Katara was the first one to notice his arrival as she rushed towards him and gave him a hug, which Naruto returned with his good arm since he was still feeling the effects of Ty Lee's attack. Noticing his wincing, the girl got worried;

"Are you alright Naruto?" she asked

"Yea, just slight pain on my arm thanks to that girl with the long pig-tail," replied the blond.

Katara instructed Naruto to follow her towards Appa and sat him down on the ground. Katara pulled out her flask of water and covered hand in a water glove before she began her water-bending treatment on Naruto's arm. Said person turned towards Aang;

"So Aang, where's Bumi?" he asked, but he saw the young monk's shoulder dropping;

"He chose to stay behind," replied Aang, "Said that I need to find an earth-bending teacher that waits and listens to the earth before attacking."

"Sounds lot like Udon," thought the blonde before he winced from the sudden throb of pain he felt in his arm. Turning towards Katara, "You found the sore spot."

Katara nodded as she went back to work.

"There's still one problem," announced Sokka as he pointed at Tom-tom, who was pulling on his wolf-tail hair.

Feeling his arm healed, Naruto stood up and walked towards Sokka and took the baby into his arms;

"Don't worry, I'll take this little guy back to his parents," said Naruto as the baby squealed in happiness at seeing Naruto. Then he turned towards Yoh, "By any chance you wouldn't know of the closest village to Omashu, would you?"

The leader nodded his head and pulled out a map, setting it on the boulder next to him;

"This is where we are," said the leader as he pointed on their location, then he slid the finger southeast towards the image of a city, "This would be the closest city to us, Gaoling."

Nodding his head, he turned towards Aang and the rest;

"This is where we part ways for now," announced Naruto, surprising the three of them, as he pointed on the map, "Gaoling city will be our meeting point."

"Why are you leaving us?" asked Sokka

"Because Sokka, I found a lead on the black fire-bender," answered the blonde, shocking them, "And I don't want you guys to be involved in the crossfire in case there's a chance that I stumble upon him."

Katara didn't know what to say; at one point she didn't want him to go, but understood that it was something that he needed to get over with, but on the other hand, she wanted to go with him, but he was right. If this fire-bender managed to seize Omashu by himself, then she would most likely get in the way. Swallowing the lump she felt on her throat, she looked at Naruto;

"You're coming back though, right?"

Naruto simply smiled at her question;

"Of course I'll come back, if I cannot find any information about him, I'll head towards Gaoling," replied Naruto

Nodding her head, Katara went up to him and gave him a hug, which Naruto return as the two stayed there for a couple of minutes before Katara detached herself from him and got on top of Appa. Naruto turned towards his pupil and nodded his head towards him while Sokka just bowed his head. Aang was the last person to stay as the two of them stared into one another;

"Take care of them Aang," said Naruto

"I will, you just make sure to come back," said Aang back evenly before he jumped on the mount and bid farewell to the citizens of Omashu as he instructed the bison to take off into the skies.

Naruto just watched the bison fly off into the distance, until the baby began cooing as he playfully slapped Naruto's cheek.

Chuckling, the blonde rocked the baby in his arms;

"Now it's time for you to go home to your mommy and daddy," said the blonde as he vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Nighttime had fallen on the city and on the balcony of the governor, he and his wife were looking towards the mountains with sadness and worry, not knowing of what could be happening to their son. Unknown to them, Naruto had skillfully landed on the balcony without much of a sound, the shadows hiding him perfectly from view. Gently, Naruto woke the sleeping baby up, causing him to lazily open his eyes till he turned to the direction of his parents. Softly cooing, Naruto placed Tom-tom on the ground and watched the baby began his baby walk towards the parents.

The blonde just watched with content smile as the parents hugged and cried for their son's safe return;

"My work here is done," whispered the blonde as he disappeared through the shadows.

- / . \ -

Meanwhile, earlier that same day with the gAang;

After they had left Naruto back with the people of Omashu, they had stumble across in a predicament, for as soon as they flew over a swamp, Aang began to feel the swamp's calling to him, but, due to the reluctance of his friends, agrees to leave. Suddenly, a tornado appears, swallowing everyone into the swamp. Aang uses airbending to make a sphere of air as a shield around Appa. Unfortunately, the tornado overwhelms the sphere and dispels it, pulling everyone into the windstorm. This separates humans and animals into two separate groups.

The human group begins looking for Momo and Appa. Aang and Katara are wary of the environment, sensing something ominous about it. Sokka uses his machete to hack through the swamp vegetation, clearing a path. He becomes annoyed at his sister and friend's warnings, stating there is nothing out of the ordinary about the place.

Aang, Katara, and Sokka make camp for the night. While they are asleep, a swamp monster attacks them, which ends in a further separation of the group. Alone in the swamp, each person experiences a vision of another person;

Aang spots a young laughing girl and a flying boar in the swamp, the girl of whom he does not recognize. He calls out to her, but she runs away with Aang giving chase after her.

Sokka envisions Yue in spirit form, who says hauntingly to him, "You didn't protect me." Sokka refuses to believe what he witnesses, clinging to the belief that there's a logical explanation.

Katara sees her mother, and momentarily believes she has returned. However, after joyfully running over to meet her, her vision is revealed to be an ordinary stump to which Katara gasps in disbelief and breaks down into tears, however, something else appeared before her;

- \ . / -

Katara was drying her tears after seeing her mother was just an illusion and was about to go on continuing her search for Aang and her brother, but she suddenly halted for as soon as she turned around to come back the same way she came from, she saw a man at the distance, standing there, but she could not tell who it was for his back was facing her and was wearing some sort of white robe with some markings that she could not understand with a matching hat. Approaching the person with caution, Katara began to see the man was fairly tall, Naruto's height most likely; (**A/N:** Hokage robes.)

"Who are you?" question Katara, but the person didn't acknowledge her as he just stood there. Katara got a little angry and got closer towards him, but then she stopped once he slowly turned around to address her, but his face was not visible for it was overshadowed by the hat. The only thing visible from the shadows were those crimson red eyes that reminded her of only one individual;

"The Crimson Avatar," gasped Katara

Slowly, she saw the person reach for his hat and took it off; however, as soon as he took his hat, there was a flash of light, causing Katara to cover her eyes as the light was too strong.

Once the light had died, Katara slowly uncovered her eyes and searched for the person, but she gasped in shock when the person's face was similar to Naruto's, whisker marks and everything. Even the eyes were the same blue color, they were not crimson red like before, however, what she did took notice was that the Naruto look alike, was wearing the same robe as the one before;

"What could this mean?" muttered Katara as she saw the person looking back at her with a neutral face, "Why this person does resemble Naruto when the eyes were blood red before while they are their regular blue now."

Then her eyes widen at a sudden thought;

"_Could it be that this person is Naruto and somehow he is connected to the crimson avatar?_" were her thoughts, but the person slowly vanished, leaving her alone once more, puzzled as to what make out of what she saw.

Suddenly, she shook her head;

"I'll think about this later and talk to Naruto the next time I see him," muttered Katara as she began her search for her other two missing members once more, "I need to find out the truth."

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Cut!

I've decided to cut it here, since pretty much the rest of story was going to be like cannon.

My apologies for taking long on posting this chapter, although I've been thinking of an interesting idea that had popped to mind concerning the direction of this story.

And I would like to thank Kyuubi16 for allowing me to use a piece of his work, I found it pretty funny when I first read it and asked him if I could use it.


	13. Book II Chapter 10

I'm back, I know, I know. Hell just froze over upon my return. Life took a priority with my return to my education and finish unfinished business among other things that I won't go into detail. I will not make any promises to update as soon as possible, but I will try to update whenever I can when I have nothing else to do.

This chapter covers the following of ATLA:

(#) – Author's note at the end of the story.

Episode Avatar Day (cannon)

Episode The Blind Bandit (Narutofied halfway through)

Episode The Chase (Different from cannon)

Other than that, here's a long awaited chapter for this story of mine. Everyone enjoy.

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_Water_

_Earth_

_Fire_

_Air_

_Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony,_

_Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked,_

_Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them,_

_But when the world needed him most, he vanished._

_One hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar,_

_An air-bender named Aang,_

_But unknown to us, the avatar of legend, a man named Naruto had reawakened._

_And although Aang's air-bending skills are amazing and Naruto may be the crimson avatar, they both have a lot to learn before they're ready to save anyone._

_But . . ._

_I believe Aang and Naruto can save the world._

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Previously on Avatar of the Four Dragons:

"_**Sasuke Uchiha! You and your forefathers have disrupted the peace of this world for far too long. It's time that I rectify a mistake that your late brother committed when he spared you,**__" stated Naruto as he landed on the ground and stood in the praying mantis stance… _

_- _/ . \ -

_Raising his head lightly, you could see that the person had closed his eyes for a moment till he opened them again, revealing blood color eyes with intersecting eclipses._

_"__Soon Naruto, we shall settle our differences . . . . once and for all.__"_

- / . \ -

"_The crimson avatar, however, is the only person among the four nations that is able to match me in power," admitted the Sasuke as he turned away from her with closed his eyes before he reopened them again, his sharingan active as it spun, softly muttering, "But mark my words, I will not make the same mistake, he will fall by my hands and I shall reign victorious."_

- / . \ -

"_Katara, I'm sorry but there are a few things about me that I've kept a secret from you three," admitted the blonde, causing the girl to widen her eyes in disbelief…_

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Past Clashes Reign Once More;

The Truth is Revealed

A week has passed since the blonde's recent leave from the group as he went on his own search for any signs of Sasuke after having learned that it was the Uchiha who had sieged Omashu and had the Fire Lord's daughter as an apprentice, but so far nothing hadn't come up as he continued his trek towards Gaoling, the town where he had told the gAang to meet up in search for Aang's earth-bending teacher.

Nearing the town's gates, the blonde was searched by the guards guarding the entrance and was allowed passage as he walked through the gates, noticing as he tilted his hat up how peaceful the town was, but also was heavily protected with soldiers patrolling around the city, but not enough to cause panic among the populace as he strolled through the busy streets of the town till he saw a ramen stand and decided to fill his empty stomach as he took a seat and took off his hat and placed it on the ground, on top of his traveling bag;

"Hello friend, name's Lau Yip and welcome to my stand," greeted a middle aged man he cleaned his hands with a rag, "What would you like to order?"

Naruto took a minute as he scanned through the menu that was hanging on top of the ceiling before he turned towards the chef;

"I'll take a miso and pork ramen, largest bowl you have," replied the blonde, causing the man to laugh out loud;

"You're really that hungry, huh friend?" questioned the man only for Naruto's stomach to make its presence known, causing the blonde to scratch the back of his head embarrassedly as the man laughed even more as he prepared the blonde's meal;

"Yea, it was a long trip after having fled from Omashu," half lied the blonde as he as he grabbed a pair of chop sticks as the chef gave him his bowls;

"You're blessed to have escaped in one piece friend," said Lau with seriousness as he rested on his table as the blonde ate, "News traveled fast after Omashu was taken over by the Fire Nation, but that's not what has the folk on edge here."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he sipped the left over noodles of his first bowl;

"Really? The folk town seem pretty calmed despite what has happened," replied the blonde only to receive a slight shake of the head as Lau crossed his arms and looked towards the people going about their daily routines;

"Everyone is just trying to continue on with their daily lives but after having heard how the city was sieged by only one man, it has caused panic within the people for one can never tell when this town could be targeted," explained the chef as Naruto ate halfway through his second bowl as he now could feel the tension that was around the town.

Naruto couldn't help but think of the group and being slightly worried, but he quickly squashed the thought away as he snorted;

"While Sokka and Aang are prone to get themselves in trouble, Katara's with them to keep those two in line," thought the blonde as he continued to chow on the remains of his meal.

If he only knew …

- / . \ -

Aang and the rest weren't having a swell day themselves as they were first attacked by mounted Fire Nation military unit known as the Rough Rhinos, who surround them in an attempt to capture them.

In their wake of fleeing quickly, the trio instantly realizes that they each left a precious possession behind at the camp. For Katara it was her waterbending scroll, for Aang it was his staff and for Sokka it was his boomerang. Katara and Aang take advantage of their bending abilities and retrieve their desired possessions while Sokka is the only who is unable to retrieve his possession as Appa takes into the skies. Feeling angry, he complains to his sister about how the two spent the time to get their possessions back despite the danger and did not spare time for his.

Katara simply confirms the fact with an innocent smile.

After sighting a nearby town, the group decided to go purchase some supplies where the trio later learned of the festival known as "Avatar Day", a day celebrated in the Earth Kingdom village. Deciding to stay for the festivities, they watch a parade with giant floats that are made to look like Avatars Kyoshi, Roku, and Aang. The trio at first believe that the festival is honoring the Avatar, and Aang is very satisfied with the fact. However, a man appears and torches the three floats to the loud approval of the villagers, who chant, "Down with the Avatar!"

Aang, in his "infinite" wisdom, decides reveals himself as the Avatar, only to cause terror among the town folk as the villagers believed he was going to destroy them. Mayor Tong tells them to leave the village as he is an unwanted visitor after having explained that it was Avatar Kyoshi, one of Aang's past life, who the villagers believed to have killed their former leader, Chin the Great. Aang, being the idiot that he was, attempted to clear his name, Aang agrees to stand trial only to find out that the town didn't accept Water Tribe currency, leaving it to Sokka and Katara to gather enough evidence to prove his innocence.

First they interrogated Mayor Tong, who gives a brief description of Chin's statue and his account of Kyoshi emerging from the temple to strike the emperor down, but Katara realizes that Kyoshi would never have set foot on the island if the temple and statue were carved out of the same stone and the statue was built following Chin's death.

After some searching, they also discover a footprint at the end of the island, which would prove to be some evidence later. Sokka and Katara return to Kyoshi Island to find evidence that can help prove his innocence. After being welcomed by the welcoming committee, Katara and Sokka briefly state their business to Oyaji, who subsequently takes them to the Kyoshi Shrine where several relics belonging to the past Avatar reside, as well as a painting that tells "The Birth of Kyoshi". On the painting, they find out that Kyoshi was there founding the island at the very same time she supposedly murdered Chin the Great, also discovering through looking at Kyoshi's boots that the size of her feet were big, the biggest of all the Avatars they were told, Sokka interrupting his sister on the conclusion that Kyoshi's supposed murder of Chin the Great was unlikely as the footprint they previously saw was small, hence further proof.

However, the evidence is useless because in these trials, as they find out the opposing side only gets to tell what they believe happened. Using only the two stories, the jury decides who is innocent and who is guilty; for this case, the village mayor serves as both prosecution and jury.

Meanwhile, Aang, still in his jail cell, has become somewhat friendly with the other prisoners. So friendly that one of them offers him advice about girls, referring to Katara, as he still has high hopes of catching her heart at some point.

However, shit hits the fan as the trial takes place with the Major giving his story of what happened and Aang gives his . . . half-assed version which causes the siblings to believe he is done for as the town finds him guilty. But it doesn't stop there, it goes even further downhill as the siblings decide to dress Aang in Kyoshi's belongings in hopes of having a spiritual contact with his past life and contacting her they did, only to add more flame to the fire as Avatar Kyoshi admitted to having killed Chin the Conqueror when said ruler tried to take over Kyoshi village and in an attempt to save her people, Kyoshi broke the entire peninsula off from the mainland, pushing it away with her air-bending as she scattered Chin's army while Chin himself was left standing on a weak overhang at the end on the cliff. He cried out in frustration, but because he was too stubborn to walk away, he fell to his death when the ground broke off from under his feet.

After the manifestation of Kyoshi spirited away, Aang asked what happened only to be told he, as Kyoshi, had confessed and now awaited for his sentence on the wheel of misfortunes only to land on being boiled on hot oil.

Even more shit hits the fan as the same Rough Rhinos that the trio had encountered earlier in the day found them and began to cause wrecks throughout the town. The Mayor, changing the sentence to community service, asks Aang to save the town and did so. The town, now feeling grateful for being saved, decided to serve uncooked dough as a tribute for not boiling Aang on hot oil on the new meaning of celebrating Avatar Day.

"This is by far, the worst town we have ever set foot in," grumbled Sokka as he looked at the uncooked dough with uncertainty while Aang was begrudgingly trying to swallow one.

"Just be glad Naruto isn't with us," said Katara, causing Aang and Sokka to stiffen, "Otherwise Naruto would've smacked the two of you for being idiots."

Aang and Sokka turned towards each other, making a silent vow of making sure Naruto never learned of this.

- / . \ -

Back on Gaoling, Naruto was finding himself twitching on the right eye with a huge urge of smacking someone for their idiocy;

"You alright there friend?" asked Lau with a raised eyebrow.

"Yea . . . just feel like someone decided to be an idiot," replied the blonde before he let out a sigh and reached into his bag to pull out a gold coin to pay for the meal as he got up and grabbed his belongings, "Keep the change friend."

Naruto resumed his search for an inn to refresh after the his trip a, only for his ears to catch the commotion of a couple of teenagers as the two of them stood in front of a poster, chatting excitedly about some sort of rumble. Curiosity getting the best of him, he approached the two teens as he saw it was a poster of some Earth Rumble IV where the earth-benders featured in the poster participated in the rumble to get a shot at the current champion, who could tell who he was for there wasn't a portrait of the current champion;

"Interesting," muttered the blonde only to be interrupted rudely by one of the teenagers;

"Shows how much a dumbass like you knows if that's all you can say," smugly said the teen.

Naruto simply held his bag with his hat on his back as he continued to stare at the poster as he wordlessly raised his right leg up and stomped the ground, causing a pillar of stone shoot out from the wall into the teens face, sending him flying across the streets. The other youngster just cleared out of Naruto's way as he was scared of saying anything to the blonde as said blonde tore the poster since he saw the location of where the event was taking place.

"Y-Yea, yo-you better walk away!" shouted/stuttered the teen only to freeze when the blonde avatar simply slightly turned back and gave the teen a glare that caused him to piss himself.

"Dickless bastard," snorted the blonde with one destination in mind.

After having taken a couple of wrong turns, the blonde avatar had finally found the underground arena where the rumble was taken as he approached a hidden door that was close to the outskirts of the town, hidden well with the jagged mountain causing it to blend in. Knocking on the door a couple of times, a small door was slid open to greet the blonde, but the person behind the door couldn't really get a good look at him for his face was covered by his hat;

"I'm here for the rumble," said Naruto in a deep voice.

The person behind the door closed the opening and opened the door, allowing Naruto to enter;

"Go down the stairs on the left and make a slight right to walk down the hallway, you'll find yourself at the arena," said a fairly tall, bald man with a scar across his face wearing the traditional earth-bending attire. Naruto wordlessly followed the bouncer's instructions as he walked down the stairs only to meet a young girl with black hair placed in a large bun held by bow with fluffs on the side, a girl that seemed to be about Katara's age **(#)**. A body a bit more muscular, but with measurements that were identical to Katara's if judging by eyesight alone. She was wearing a green shirt and matching pants underneath, being overlapped a long vest from the front and back as it was being held together by a thick brown vest, but what caught his attention was the faded look in her eyes. Narrowing his eyes to get a better look, he noticed that she was blind;

"_A blind girl here by herself?_" thought Naruto, never once dropping his guard for he could feel the girl was someone to be trifled with just by seeing how relaxed her form was, "_Interesting, either she is using earth-bending to see or she knows hand to hand combat and relies on her sensitivity to see._"

However, his musings were caught short as a distant sound caught his attention as he turned to the right. He looked back towards the young girl once more before he went down the underground passage. After turning a slight right, the blonde avatar walked towards the sound as he neared the light at the end of the tunnel, the sounds becoming recognizable as thumping and pounding while the sound of people screaming and shouting. The noises got louder and louder with each step he took till he finally neared reached the end of the tunnel as a mass populace greeted him as the crowd went wild at the appearance of the next fighter with the ring being at the center of the arena that was illuminated by a ceiling of glowing crystals

Looking awestruck, Naruto's senses quickly told him that he wasn't going to be with the audience, but that he was going to be part of the show.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the main event of Earth Rumble IV!" someone shouted from the center of the ring, causing the whole crowd to explode, "As promised, we have issued an open challenge to anyone who has the courage to challenge our current champion!" the crowd cheered once more as Naruto noticed that the man was coming his way, "And our challenge has been answered as an unknown fighter has made his presence known!" leaning closer towards the blonde, the man whispered, "Hey buddy, what's your gimmick?"

Naruto didn't reply as he was trying to figure a way to get out of this predicament as he didn't want to attract attention, but his quietness was considered as nervousness;

"Tch, already having stage frights," muttered the man as he scanned Naruto and noticed that the blonde was carrying a bag that a sand-bender of the desert would carry on his person and the black attire the blonde was wearing made him seem dark and mysterious with the hat he was wearing for his face couldn't be seen and add that with his physique and muteness made him quite an unnerving and intimidating individual. Suddenly, the lights went on in his head as he had figured a perfect gimmick for the blonde avatar. Quickly, the announcer jumped to the middle of the ring once more, gaining the attention of the crowd as their sights were glued to the announcer;

"Ladies and gentleman, tonight we have treat for you," announced the man, "For our challenger is not just a regular earth-bender, oh no!" pointing at the blonde, "For you see! Our challenger is one of the desert!" this earned a gasp from the crowd, "Oh yes, folks! Our challenger is one of the raiding sand-benders! From the same group of thieves and murderers that would kill and leave your body rot on the sanded sea!" then out of nowhere, a slight fog began to sprout from behind Naruto, causing said blonde avatar to raise an eyebrow at the show the man was giving;

"He has the crowed hooked that's for sure," muttered Naruto dryly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, from the northern lands of Gaoling city, from Death Valley . . . I give you . . . The Undertaker!"

Half of the crowd cheered, for majority of them were intimidated that a 'sand-bender' was challenging the current champion.

"Well, the spotlight is on me now whether I want it or not," sighted Naruto as he closed his eyes, then chuckled softly before grinning, "Oh well, might as well have a little fun."

Without saying a word, the blonde dropped his bag to the ground, gaining the attention of the crowd as the earth around the blonde suddenly began to turn into sand, causing shock and fear among the crowd, intriguingly watching as the sand floated and moved about as if it were alive, surrounding the blonde little by little till he was completely surrounded in a cocoon. The eyes of the crowd remained unblinking and unmoving as the sand cocoon slowly disintegrated till it was completely long, but the challenger was nowhere to be seen.

Anxiously, the crowd looked everywhere for blonde avatar, but their search was halted as the glowing crystals stopped glowing all of a sudden, causing slight panic amongst the people only to let out a sigh of relief as the lights illuminated as they quickly disappeared only to hold their breath in once more when they saw that Naruto was standing in the middle of the ring, causing many to wonder how he had made it across the ramp without being seen or causing noise;

"Gotta love being a ninja," snickered the blonde as his pranking nature was taking over while maintaining the persona he was given as he used gen-jutsu to make himself disappear after the sand dispersed and using an upper level of earth-bending to reduce the earth around him into sand.

Suddenly, the crowd came alive once more, causing Naruto to barely lift his head up to see who was walking towards the ring and to his surprise, it was the same girl he had passed by when he was approaching the ring. The young girl raised her hands into the air, gaining a louder cheer from the crowd before she 'looked' in Naruto's direction, neither one saying a word;

"Now ladies and Gentlemen! The moment all of you have been waiting for, I present to you your current champion and undefeated champion, the Blind Bandit!" shouted the man as he jumped off the ring, landing inside suite box across the ring while the crowd cheered on top of their lungs, "Let the Rumble begin!"

Naruto simply stood there emotionlessly as he waited for the young girl to make the first move, but all she did was stand there as well. Neither one saying a word till the young girl's patience ran out;

"Are you just going to stand there looking stupid or you're a big puss with a serious case of stage frights!" shouted the girl, causing Naruto's right eye to twich;

"_And here I thought she looked harmless,_" thought Naruto, knowing full well she was trying to get him mad to lose his cool and make a mistake, "_But from the way walks, she's no slouch that's a guaranteed,_" then a small smirk appeared on his face, "_Let's see what you're made of._"

Naruto barely made the first step, watching as the girl's body suddenly went into alert mode and slowly went into a fighting stance that was almost similar to his and on his second step, she quickly raised two semi big boulders and sent them sailing towards him, but Naruto knew the boulders were just a distraction as he could feel the shift of position on the girls feet as an underground rushed towards him at high speeds to attack him. To quickly counter this, Naruto sent a hand out and sand-bended the sand towards the flying boulders as make-shift hands to catch them in midair, however, the blonde used the momentum of his second step to quickly stomp on the ground, causing a pillar of earth rise in front of him as a forward pillar rose at him in attempts to punch him hard and off the ring. Noticing that the girl used earth-bending to see, the blonde made a fist and made the sand crush the boulders and with the same hand, the blonde made a palm thrust strike, causing the same wall to rush towards the blind bandit.

Said blind bandit sensed the wall rushing towards as it snapped her out of her sudden surprised caused by her opponent and quickly stomped the ground with both of her fist extended forward along with her upper body, causing the wall of earth to explode, but the blonde didn't let off his attack as he stomped with his left forward with both arms bended at the elbows with one above and the other underneath, shifting the earth to attack the blind girl quickly as stone pillars that were about the girl's size rose upward from both sides, but she quickly regain a horse stance as she shot her first outward to the sides, shattering the pillars to dust upon contact.

The blonde avatar then made a fist with one of his hands harshly jerked up back, the spectator's wall shot dozens of pellet bullets at her, but being blind had its benefits for it heighten Toph's hearing as she heard the oncoming whistling the pellets made. Quickly she raised her hands upward to create an earth shield to protect herself from an attack from behind. The young girl could not comprehend how her opponent managed to block her first attack and forcing her on the defense as she could not sense her opponent's movement as he stomped forward with his left leg while his right was stretched back and rooted in place as he had both arms extended with his hands making a tiger's mouth form, making the earth shift all over the arena as large spikes rose from the corners of the ring and rushed towards Toph. Seeing she had no way of escaping except up, she bended the earth to rise upward in a stone pillar to escape an all-out attack from her surroundings as the attack earth spikes crashed and destroyed the pillar from all four directions, making the girl land couple of feet in a kneeling position and away from the blonde.

Toph had a little bit of sweat coming down her brow as she couldn't comprehend as to how her opponent is able to attack her without her being able to deflect or protect herself at the last minute. Quickly, she rose to her feet with a stomp on the ground, using her bending abilities to see where he was standing, but to her shock, she couldn't locate him anywhere, then she quickly remembered that her opponent was a sand-bender as well;

"Asshole! You're using sand-bending to prevent you from stepping on the ground!" accused Toph as she pointed an accusing at the blonde.

The crowd looked more attention to the blonde avatar's feet and indeed there were surround in sand, causing the crowd to boo him in belief that he was cheating.

Naruto didn't let it bother me, but also decided that he had seen enough of the girl's skills;

"_She's very talented for someone her age and most importantly, for being blind,_" thought Naruto proudly for this girl reminded him of his former student, Udon, "_I believe I just found Aang's earth-bending teacher._"

Mentally, the blonde dispersed the sand on his feet as he began to walk, allowing Toph to 'see' who quickly took advantage to attack as she sent multiple flying boulders at him, but Naruto hasten his pace towards her as he easily blocked, swatted or dodged the incoming boulders, leaving a cloud of shattered earth in his path, not once slowing down. Toph then stomped the ground, followed by chop as the earth formed an earth based tidal wave, but the blonde slightly jumped in the air with a spin before landing with his left forward as he landed, parting the wave in the middle as it allowed the blonde avatar to resume his charge as the distance between the two fighters shortened. Toph, sensing he was nearing her quick, she shot her hands forward in open palms before forming fists as she slid her left leg in an arc forward and preceded to stomp side to side as she caused the earth to shot spikes upward, but due to the blonde's speed, she missed her target every time he zig-zag and her last chance of stopping him was the curved shield she made in front of her with spikes adorning said shield.

The crowd watched with anxiety and anticipation as they saw the champion's opponent not slowing down till he came to stop and slid towards the spiked shield, causing many to believe he was going to turn into Swiss cheese, but to the shock of the spectators, the blonde had a fist cocked back and punched the wall as soon as he was in proximity of the shield.

The shield burst into dust as the blonde punched through the wall, sending the blind bandit backward due to the force of the punch and the destruction of her shield, sending her sailing off the ring as she landed with a loud thud.

The ring was covered in big cloud of dust and many were waiting for dust to settle down and didn't have to wait long, but to their shock once more, the undertaker was nowhere to be seen.

Toph groaned as she slowly sat up as she clutched her chest and placed her hand on the ground to try and find her opponent, but she couldn't find him anywhere nearby, causing her to growl at her defeat and the free grope he got;

"I'm going to kill him next time next time, damn pervert!" growled Toph as she walked away from the arena.

- / . \ -

On the outskirts of the mountain that housed the hidden tournament, Naruto suddenly popped from underneath, checking his surroundings for any sort of surprise, but to his relief he saw that was just on the outer limits of the town. Sighing he headed to town;

"That was fun, but good thing I left when I had the chance or I would've have to deal with a righteous angry girl," muttered the blonde as he recalled punching through the shield and shattering it in the process and before he made contact with the girl, he opened his hand for a palm thrust, he wanted to defeat her, not beat her and he just had to hit her on her breasts;

"She's going to kill next time I see her."

But he would deal with that later, for now his mind was on finding an inn and getting some rest as he waited for the arrival of his companions.

- / . \ -

A couples of day have passed since his 'debut' at the Earth Rumble and he was the talk of the town. Luckily for him, his face wasn't seen so he could walk around town showing his face. However, his mind was on something else;

"Where are those three?" muttered the blonde as he ventured through the busy streets of Gaoling and after making a left turn that would've taken him to some earth bending academy he has a couple of times, but he was greeted by having a small group crashing into him, one of the parties falls to the ground while Naruto managed to stay on his feet, looking straight at the group to tear a new one, but to his surprise it was Aang, Katara and Sokka;

"About time you three showed up," announced the blonde as he offered his hand to Katara, who gladly took it and was helped to her feet, before he narrowed his eyes at them, "What yook you guys so long?"

"Um … Got lost in the road of life?" Aang and Sokka answered nervously, hoping their blonde companion wouldn't find out about the events of Chin city.

"Aang decided to prove his innocence after being charge for murder from one of his past lives in a village whose festivities were burning make shift avatar floats and held us up almost a day," answered Katara as she looked at her nails nonchalantly, "Oh and my brother decided to travel back forth to Kyoshi island to help him."

Naruto's right eye was twitching nonstop as the two were hugging themselves out of fear, but the blonde let out a sigh;

"I'll deal with this crap later," said Naruto as he rubbed his eyes, "By the way Aang, I believe I have found you a good earth-bending teacher."

Aang's eyes widen as he remembered what they were going to do before they bumped into the blonde;

"We also found a great earth-bender who waits and listens, just as Bumi told me," he announced excitedly.

"Yea, we went to this earth bending tournament and saw a young girl who effortlessly defeat her opponents," said Katara before she crossed her arms and frowned, "Although we didn't get the chance to see this undertaker character everyone is talking about. The people say how he managed to hand the blind bandit's first loss with the use of sand and earth bending."

"And we found out that she's from the Bei Fong family and we are going to go find her," added Sokka, neither one of the three noticing the nervous look on his face;

"_Yup, I'm going to die,_" thought Naruto as he began to follow the group in search for the Bei Fong compound.

- / . \ -

The group were scouting the compound from a top of a hill, the entrance of the compound bared the flying boar symbol proudly;

"There it is! That's the flying boar from my vision," informed Aang before everyone retreated and approached the compound's wall. Naruto signaled them to stand down as he jumped over the wall to scout the area. Noticing that no one was around he motioned them to jump over … well more like climb over since Aang used his air-bending to jump;

"I'll stay behind and make sure no guards patrol this area, if they do, I'll create a distraction for you guys to escape," informed Naruto as Sokka and Katara nodded.

Naruto saw them scatter within the premises as he silently placed his hands on the ceiling of the wall, sending chakra pulses throughout the compound, sensing the girl they were searching for was at the center of the garden, the trio were not far behind and it wasn't that heavily guarded as there were two guards on the far left corner of the garden.

Opening his eyes, he saw how the three of them were sent airborne only for Aang and Katara to land on the bushes to break their falls, but Sokka wasn't as lucky as he landed on the hard ground. The blonde quickly recognized the girl he fought at the tournament, even though her attire was more elegant and fancy from what she wore last and he could tell the meeting wasn't going as well as Aang had hoped to go as the situation was explained, however, he flinched slightly when he saw her turn in his direction, making him sweat a little, but he sighted in relief when he heard her call the guards, making the three run around like headless chickens till they regained their bearings and ran towards him, helping Sokka and Katara jump over the wall and as soon as he touch the ground, a pillar of earth shot from wall right behind Naruto, nailing him hard as he grunted in pain and was sent sailing across the road, skidding face first as he laid there motionless while his hands twitched a bit;

"Why me . . ." Naruto mumbled through the dirt.

- / . \ -

Back in the garden, Toph was being escorted back into the premises with a smirk on her face as she felt good delivering punishment for touching her;

"_Consider us even,_" thought the blind earth-bender.

However, she didn't see the grin Aang had as he watch her retreating form.

Later that day, the sun had set and and Toph was with her parents and her 'earth-bending teacher' as the adults were discussing her 'progress' on her earth-bending while they drank some tea. Then suddenly, the butler made his presence known as he announced his master that there was someone had announced their arrival, upsetting Toph's father greatly as he let his arrogance show by asking who believed to be more important to bother him until the butler announce that it was the avatar.

Thus, we find our heroes dining with Toph and her parents along with her 'master' as the servents serve the food and Sokka, being Sokka, sate to his hearts content;

"Avatar Aang, it is an honor to have you with us," Toph's mother said, Aang just bowed in gratitude.

"Avatar Aang, in your opinion, how much further do we have to wait for the war to be over?" asked Toph's father.

"I would like to have defeated the Fire Lord before the end of summer," then coyly he rested his elbows on the table looking straight at Toph, "But I can't do that without finding an earth-bending teacher first."

"Well, Master Yu is the finest earth-bending teacher in all the land," praised Toph's father, but Naruto mearly snorted quietly without anyone noticing except Toph, "He has been teaching Toph since she was little."

"Then she must be a great earth-bender," proclaimed Aang, "Probably good enough to teach someone else-"

His words were interrupted as Toph hit his shin with a little bit of earth-bending, causing Aang to jump off his chair and make everyone look at him, except Naruto who just snickered as he ate his food.

"Toph is still learning the basics," reminded Master Yu, causing her father to sigh sadly;

"Yes and because of her blindness, I doubt she'll ever become a true master," proclaimed the man.

"_Shows what you truly know about your daughter if you had actually spend time with her instead of treating her like a helpless child,_" thought Naruto calmly as he drank his tea peacefully.

Sokka, Katara and Aang looked at one another before Aang spoke once more;

"I'm sure she's better than-" however, his words died in his throat as Toph bended the earth underneath his chair to come forward at high speeds to have his face slam down on his soup.

Again, Toph's father looked at Aang and back at Toph, not comprehending what was going on.

However, Aang wasn't going to let this one slide as he pretended to sneeze due to the soup on his face and blew the whole food of the table, majority of it landing on Toph, her mother and Master Yu, making Toph wipe off the food before slamming her hands on the table and 'glaring' at Aang;

"What's your problem?!" demanded Toph

"What's YOUR problem?!" demanded Aang back, but Toph's mother diffused the situation from escalating as she suggested going to the living room to drink more tea.

The rest of the evening went peacefully till everyone retired to their quarters to get some rest. Naruto was resting along with the rest of the gang in one of the guest rooms that Bei Fong family provided for them as Aang was bidding good night to his sky bison. Naruto sensing a presence at the entrance at the door sat up and looked blind earth-bender;

"You're not here to cause a war, are you?" questioned the blonde as he stared at Toph lazily, but was ignored as Aang went into some weird stance after seeing who was at their dorm.

"Relax," said Toph as she leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed, "Look, I am sorry about dinner tonight, let's call it a truce, ok?"

Aang looked at her warily but muttered an agreement, then she turned towards Naruto;

"You however; I don't trust you phenom," said Toph in a warning tone but she still motioned him to follow her.

"_I'm not surprised she knows I'm the one that defeated her,_" mused the blonde as he followed her, neither one making a sound as they went outside to the garden "_But she's quite sharp to have noticed that Aang and the rest don't know of my bending abilities._"

The two of them approached the garden as the two of them crossed the little bridge, neither one of them saying as Toph walked and balanced herself on the rails of the bridge;

"I could tell you were trying not to laugh at my parent's naivety concerning my true skills," the blind bandit broke the ice as she gained the blonde's attention, causing the crimson avatar to chuckle a bit;

"After seeing what you're truly capable first hand, your parents truly don't know you," admitted the blonde, "Though I am curious as to how far your range of sigh is."

"I'm able to feel the vibrations of the ground to see where you're standing, where that tree is," answered Toph as she jumped of the rail of the bridge and landed on the ground while pointing to the tree on their left, "I can 'see' the ants."

Naruto was impressed with but he knew her range of sight could be broader and closed his eyes slightly tapping his foot onto the ground, gaining Toph's attention as she turned to him with curiosity as she could feel the pulse of earth-bending that coursed through the compound;

"But are you able to see the night owl that's on top of the entrance to your house," said the blonde with a soft smile, making the blind girl use her earth-bending and concentrated a little more to see the that in fact there is an owl as her sensitive ears also picked up the a soft hoot;

"Or Aang's flying lemur as it sits at the top of your house," then Toph quickly tried to sense the lemur, but could barely feel him as her vibrations on the earth couldn't reach all the way to the top.

"How?" asked an astonished earth-bender

"You're a great-bender, probably one of the best that has ever lived," praised the blonde, "But earth-bending wasn't created to just chunk rocks at any target of your choosing, it was created to help those who lost their sight and give them a tool to see beyond what the eyes could provide and for that, one's chi pool must be large, for the larger it is, the greater you 'sight' shall be, understand."

Toph listened to every word that was spoken;

"But that still doesn't explain as to why the other three don't know you can earth-bend and sand-bend for that matter," replied the blind bandit as the two continued to talk.

"Earth-bending has three stages of mastery, after one has been attune to earth's nature, the next step will be sand-bending, for it is harder to control as you're breaking down a boulder into millions of grains of sand and you're able to control said sand to do whatever you want, as if you were telekinetic," explained the blonde, earning a nod from the girl, "And the final stage of being a true earth-bending master is being able to bend metal or to turn a piece of rock into metal."

At this, Naruto earned a gasp of shock from the blind earth-bender;

"That's impossible! No earth-bender even the avatar, except the crimson avatar, possesses the ability to metal bend!" proclaimed Toph, earning a chuckle from the blonde;

The blonde simply raised a pillar of rock as he continued his explanation;

"Why not? Metal has the same particles as the earth, just at a lesser extent," explained the blonde as he grabbed onto the pillar of earth and concentrated on the small particles and to Toph's shock, she could feel the earth changing into metal through her feet.

"Sometimes, is better to lie by wearing a mask out of fear to protect any kind of freedom we have, but that's not true freedom," said the blonde as he finished turning the rock pillar into metal, he continued, "True freedom is when you don't have mask to hide your true self, just like you gained your freedom when you were able to see through earth-bending, you broke from the shackles of you being helpless and defenseless, carving any path you wish to take."

After seeing the blonde stepping away Toph slowly approached the pillar and slowly placed her hand onto pillar, letting out a small gasp she could feel the coldness that metal provided;

"Unbelievable," muttered Toph, then the gears on hear head began clicking, "Wait a minute . . . if the crimson avatar is the only avatar to have mastered metal-bending, then that means …"

"I am the Crimson Avatar," admitted the blonde

"I take it they don't know either," pointed out Toph

But before he could reply, the two of them went on guard as they both felt an ambush coming via underground as one of the rumble fighters confronted them, but it was too late to when they sensed a second attack from behind, not being quick enough as they two were jumped as both received a cage each with all of the Earth Rumble fighters appearing all over the place with the Hippo stepping on the cages to make sure they are sealed inside.

"I believe the two of you owe me some money," said Xin Fu as he looked into Toph's cage only to see an angry scowl then stepped towards Aang's cage, or so he thought that's who was inside the cage till he saw it wasn't the kid that defeated the blind bandit, what he got was tall blonde man looking at him with a bored expression on his face;

"You should be worth something," muttered Fu, "Take them away."

- / . \ -

"You think you're so tough! Why don't you come up here so I slap that grin of your face," challenged Toph from inside her cage as it hanged in the air via chain to the ceiling while Naruto simply sat in a lotus position inside his cage, chuckling as he heard what the blind earth-bender said.

Then heard Sokka's voice and a couple of minutes later, he heard Toph's cage being lowered till it hit the ground, her cage being opened and hearing Katara's voice demanding for his release only to hear Fu's voice announcing the Fire Nation paying a hefty price for his involvement at the siege of the North. The wrestlers flanked him as they threaten the group to leave, however, Katara runs after Toph to help them, but her father protests by saying that his daughter cannot for she is blind, tiny and helpless, causing the blonde to chuckle as he stayed in his sitting position;

"Now what is going to be Toph," mused the blonde, "Continue to play the defenseless little girl your parents think you are or take off your mask and show them who you truly and be fre to choose any path your heart desire."

Silence ensued on the outside till his cage was lowered towards the ground, landing onto someone's back as he was laying on his back against his cage as his captors began to walk till they came to a sudden stop as he earth bend;

"Let him go!" shouted Toph, making Naruto smile;

"Atta girl," muttered the blonde till he felt his cage being tossed to the side as he was bouncing all over the place from within.

Even though he didn't had a direct contact with the ground, he could still 'see' what was happening through the metal cage and just watched as Toph took out her opponents one by one after having made a giant dust cloud, even noticing Sokka and Katara approaching quickly, with the water tribe girl peeking through the cage's opening;

"Naruto! Are you alright?" shouted Katara;

"Yea! Where's Aang?" questioned the blonde as he couldn't hear the little boy's coice;

"He stayed at the compound incase this turned out for the worst," answered Sokka as he began to bang on the lock underneath his opening;

"Hammer the lock that's at the base of the cage!" announced Naruto as he felt Toph had taken care of most of her opponents, the only left was Xin Fu himself till he was taken care off when got out of the cage as he saw Fu being sent flying to where Master Yu and Toph's father were seating, quickly noting the displeased look on his face, but he didn't care as he approached the young earth-bender and placed his hand on her shoulder;

"Thank you Naruto," muttered Toph as she lowered her head a bit, "For helping realize that I have the power to choose my own path and no one, not even parents have a say in it."

"No worries, now let's go deal with your father," muttered the blonde to which she nodded grimly, not looking forward to that.

- / . \ -

Back at the household, Toph stood in front of her parents, hoping it will not upset them, however, instead of taking her display as a token of autonomy and responsibility, they jump to the conclusion that the freedom they gave her allowed her to put herself into danger, deciding Toph has had too much freedom and must be confined and guarded from now on as she was escorted to her room by the guards while Aang and the rest were forced out of the house. At this point Naruto had enough as he disposed of the guards escorting them out and stormed back to the living room were Toph's parents were still sitting. Toph's father was about to demand an explanation, but Naruto didn't let say a word;

"Shut your damn mouth before I shut for you so I don't have to hear anymore nonsense," threaten the blonde, "Toph is not some helpless little girl that needs to be helped and your protection!" growled the blonde as he saw the guards approaching him ready to restrain him, but a look from the blonde made them stop, then he turned his sights back towards the man of the household, "In my opinion, you're just an asshole that cares only for the status your name holds instead for the happiness of your daughter."

"Toph is not some barbarian that should mingle with the rest of those mongrels," stated Toph's mother, "Even Master Yu has more class than the avatar himself."

Naruto just narrowed his eyes, ready to retort, but a voice coming from the hallway stopped him;

"Naruto! Stop!"

Everyone turned to see Toph dressed in her Earth Rumble attire;

"It doesn't matter what you tell him, they will never change their minds," Toph said softly, before turning toward her parents, her eyes narrowing them, "And neither will I!"

"Toph! You will sto-" his words were cut short as he was sucked into the earth to the neck;

"No! I am tired of being portrayed as a helpless little girl only because I'm blind or being tied down to your fucking beliefs what I should be so the family name can prosper!" growled Toph, "I'm leaving so I can go see the world, but most importantly so I can be myself," then she turned towards the blonde, "Let's go Naruto."

Naruto glared at the parents, as if daring them to stop them.

The two of them walked up a hill where the rest were preparing to leave on Appa, until Aang saw the two of them approaching them, "Toph! Naruto!"

"Sorry for taking long," apologized the blonde, "It took a while to convince her father to let her go."

"Then let's go before her father changes his mind, again" retorted Sokka as he continued to shine the belt

"You're going to be a great teacher, Toph," proclaimed Aang as he was ready to yank on Appa's reigns.

"Speaking of which, Aang come down here, I want to show you something," said Toph while Naruto watched the whole thing play out, knowing she was planning something only to send the naïve air-bender sailing into the three;

"Now we are even," claimed Toph as she held out her hand towards Sokka, "I'll be taking my belt back now thank you."

Sokka grumbled as he took it off and threw it at Toph, who got hit in the head as she couldn't see it coming, having Naruto shake his head at their antics.

And so, they took off onto the air as they flew through the night and most of the day as they only stopped for food and rest, other than that, thy continued to fly until the sun was setting and found a nice little spot with enough space for them to set up camp and get some rest. Once they landed, everyone jumped off to do their part of the chores while Toph surveyed the area, liking it to what she felt; **(#)**

"I must admit, you picked a nice spot to land in, the grass is so soft," said Toph as she moved her toes to feel the grass move between them

"Toph … that's not grass," said Sokka, "That's Appa's hair.

"Yea, the big lug here is shedding," said Naruto as he tried to brush some hairs of off him;

"Yea, gross," muttered Katara only for Appa to sneeze and cause more hair to be shed, making Katara sneeze;

"It's not that bad Katara," proclaims her brother who is squatted down doing something, "It makes a great wig."

"And it make a great beard," said Aang as he jumped down with a face full of facial hair before both pointed at each other and laugh.

"And if you want best of worlds, it makes a good combo," said Naruto as he adorned a long bear that covered most of his cheeks and extensions to make his hair longer and wilder, somehow, a grin still being visible through all that facial hair as the blonde rested against Appa with his arms crossed, causing Aang and Sokka to point at him and laugh.

Katara just looked at them before she tried to brush off the hair of off her;

"I'm just glad we have another girl in our group because the three of you are disgusting," commented the water-bender only to be proven she was by herself as Toph decided to make her presence known as she came between the boys and Naruto;

"Excuse me, by any chance any of you have a razor?" asked Toph before fell back towards Naruto, who out of reflex, caught Toph as she raised her arms behind her head, "Cause I got some hair arm pits."

The boys just looked at her for a second before they burst out laughing harder than before while Naruto just chuckled as he pushed Toph back to her feet, however, none saw the look of jealousy Katara held towards Toph until the bad vibe was broken with Aang sneezing and blowing everyone's hair away, including Naruto's as Aang crashed against Appa;

"Aw man! I liked my new hairdo," said the blonde with a pout as he crossed his arms, making everyone laugh, including Katara.

Hours later, everyone had set up for camp, except Toph who laid on the background. The guys didn't mind or care, but Katara seemed to be a little annoyed that everyone was doing something while she just did nothing, so she took it upon herself to say anything while the little green monster was playing at the back of her mind, but quickly squashing it by telling herself she wasn't jealous;

"Usually when setting up the camp, we divide up the work," said Katara, suggesting to do something, but Toph was just being Toph;

"Hey, don't worry about me, I'm good to go," was the earth-bender's reply.

Naruto stopped setting up the fire as he watched the two exchange words, quickly noting that an argument was going to retort.

"What I am trying to say is, one of us goes for the water while someone else set up the tents," clarified Katara with Momo appearing out of nowhere as he added more wood to the fire, "See, even Momo does his share."

"Katara, I said I'm fine," replied Toph a little more stubbornly, "I can carry my weight. I don't need a fire, I've collected my food and look, my tent is all set up."

"That's not what I mean-" argued Katara, but was cut up by an annoyed earth-bender;

"I don't understand what's the problem here," shot Toph back, glaring at Katara.

Katara got angry and chose to walk away before an argument happened. Naruto simply continued to start the fire as he watched an angry water-bending master approach him and sit on one of the lugs he had found to use as a seat;

"What's her deal to act like that?" exclaimed Katara as she crossed her arms, "All I did was tell her that we all have a share of work to do."

"You're forgetting one tiny detail Katara," said the blonde without stopping his chore.

"And what's that?" asked Katara snidely only to receive a glare from the blonde.

"She's not like you or Aang where you guys share the work, Toph is used to doing things by herself and that's her way of not being a burden," explained the blonde as he resumed his job and lit a fire, "Even I do the same thing she does, I go search for my own food, set up my own bed and you are not after me to do the same."

Katara had no argument for he did had a point, she didn't grind on his ear at him for not doing the same.

Neither one said a word as Naruto had finished starting the fire and called everyone in to eat some fish that he had gathered at a nearby river. Everyone enjoyed their meal as no one said a word and after everyone was done, they retired to their beds as Naruto stayed a little later to put out the fire and keep watch for an hour or so before he went to his own bed to get some rest. However, before he could lay down he stood up and glared into the distance, feeling someone powerful heading their way;

"This feels familiar," muttered the blonde as he narrowed his eyes, but his musings were interrupted when Toph alerted everyone else;

"Should we leave?" the blonde managed to hear and intervene before Aang could say anything;

"Everyone, gather your stuff on the double and let's head out," ordered the blonde with urgency, everyone looking at him as they saw him acting differently as he continued to glare behind their direction.

Once they had hit airborne, they noticed something was indeed approaching them fast as a trail of dust left its wake. Katara saw the blonde was glaring at whatever it was following us with an intensity that made her wonder if she should get his attention or not;

"Aang, fly us over the mountains and let me take over, you guys get some rest," suggested the blonde which the young avatar accepted without argument as he gave Naruto the reigns.

After flying for a good while, the blonde sees a nice patch of land to rest upon. Taking down Appa, the group were enjoyed to being able to sleep once more as Toph jumped off the sky bison right onto the ground as if she had missed an old lover;

"Ah sweet ground," proclaimed the blind earth-bender, "Well, see you guys in the morning."

"Actually Toph, can you help us unload?" asked Katara, the conversation she had with Naruto earlier completely forgotten;

"Really? You want to help unload Sokka's funky and smelling sleeping bag?" asked Toph in disbelief as her point was proven when Sokka passed out from smelling his bag, but no one paid attention to that as an angry water-bending master marched up to Toph;

"Well yea, that and everything else," replied Katara, "You're a part of our team now-"

However she was cut off by an equally annoyed blind earth-bender;

"Look, I didn't ask you to unload my own stuff," exclaimed Toph, "I'm carrying out my own weight."

Naruto just let out a frustrating sigh as he watched the ensued cat-fight unfold;

"That's not the point!" exclaimed Katara with equal anger, "Ever since you joined you have been nothing but selfish and unhelpful!"

"Wrong thing to say woman," muttered the blonde as he pinched the bridge of his nose

"What!" shouted Toph, then pointed a finger right in Katara's face, "Look here sugar queen! I gave up everything I had so I could teach Aang earth-bending, so don't you talk to me about being selfish!" and with that Toph made herself an earth tent with Katara still yelling at her only to have a door 'slammed' in her face.

Katara was about to continue on her rant until Naruto had enough;

"That's enough!" shouted the blonde, surprising the group for he never yelled or shouted before, "We have an unknown party chasing after us and all you two are doing is arguing over something trivial!"

Then he walked away as he jumped on top of a tree branch, keeping lookout for whatever was following them, not once noticing the hurtful look on her face before all of them went to sleep;

Unfortunately, it didn't last long as the blonde was able to see the oncoming smoke;

"Damn," cursed the blonde before he jumped off the tree branch and landed with a loud thud, causing everyone to wake up, "Everyone! Wake up! They caught up to us!"

Again, everyone put their camping gear away and went airborne once more, this time getting a more clearer view of what following them;

"Seriously what is that thing?" questioned Katara

"And how does it keep finding us?" added Toph

Naruto just stayed silent as he glared at the tank that was following them until it was becoming a distant dot due to Aang pushing Appa to fly them far away as possible. Appa flew over a range of forests, mountain terrains, lakes and their final destination, an uphill mountain side that was surround by boulders. Being too tired, Appa just rolled on his side as everyone simply felled off the saddle;

"Forget about camp, let's just sleep," moaned Sokka sleepily;

"That's alright, Toph wasn't going help anyway," retorted Katara back hotly

"Oh, I didn't know babies still needed to be tucked in," retorted back the blind earth-bender with same intensity;

However, everyone grew nervous when the blonde simply drew his blade;

"We have company," announced the blonde avatar as they all saw the smoke not far behind, Aang jumped up to his feet;

"That's impossible!"

"I can feel them with my own two feet," confirmed Toph

"Let's get out of here," advised Katara,

"Let's find out who they are, who knows, maybe they are friendly," suggested Aang, causing Naruto to snort;

"That naïve thinking of yours is going to get you killed," wisely told Aang.

The tank that was on their tails suddenly came to a stop, a top hatch opened as a platform seemed to be raising someone only for Naruto to narrow his eyes dangerously as he saw Sasuke wearing a fire sage robe, staring at him with an expressionless look on his face and crossed arms while Azula and her team rushed at them riding on some oversized gecko;

"Sasuke," growled the blonde with killer intent rising;

Katara turned at him then at the raven haired soldier;

"Is he the one that wields the black flames?" questioned Katara quietly

"Is those three from Omashu!" said Sokka as he recognized the girls

"We need to leave now!" ordered Naruto

"I agree, we wanted to find out who's after us and we did," agreed Sokka as he was the first one to jump on the saddle.

Toph made hand movements to cause earth spikes to rise up with the intentions of slowing them down, but it had little effect, so she just made a thick wall of earth, but Azula formed lightning on her fingertips before she shot it at the wall, shattering with little effect but giving enough time for everyone to have been onboard Appa and in the air.

Sasuke and Naruto just glared at one another impassively as group made their escape.

The group managed to escape their pursuers, despite their lack of rest, as they were talking what should they do, but the blonde was quiet through the whole thing;

"I still can't believe those girls followed us all the way from Omashu," muttered Katara

"I still say we should've stayed and fight," argued Toph

"You would've lost," said Naruto out of the blue, earning the attention of the group, "The leader of the group wields blue flames, meaning her fire-bending skills are far superior to Zuko's."

"Who's Zuko?" asked Toph out of the blue

"Just a freak with a scar and ponytail hell bend of chasing us," answered Sokka

"The other one is good with her knifes and has great accuracy when throwing them, but the one you have watch out for in that little group is the bubbly one with long pig tail," warned the blonde, "She knows an ancient fighting style known as Juuken, it deals with chi points in the human body and when used correctly, it can take your bending away for good while unless you know what points to hit, though I suggest not mess with them if you have no knowledge otherwise you end up damaging yourself."

"What about the robed, dark and spiked hair man that stood atop of the tank?" asked Katara softly, gaining Aang and Sokka's attention as they too have wondered who he was.

The sun slowly began to rise as the blonde continued to stay silent;

"His name is Sasuke Uchiha and he is the one responsible for the siege of Omashu," answered Naruto, earning gasps from the group.

However, at that little moment, Appa decided to fall asleep while he was airborne and everyone was freefalling as they held on for their dear lives onto the saddle as Aang tried his best to wake him up and managed to do so at the last minute, although Naruto was knocked out of the saddle, but managed to save himself as he grabbed onto the tree branches. As he stood on top of the tree branch, the blonde could see that they were not far behind as the clouds began to darken but shouting and yelling caught his attention as he saw Toph walk away from the group. Annoyed he jumped down in front of the group;

"What happened here?" asked the blonde in a low tone;

"Aang and Katara were being jerks and Aang blew on Toph because Appa is leaving a hairy trail for them to follow," replied Sokka as he was sipping on some drink peacefully;

"Thank you Sokka," said his sister dryly, "You're welcome."

Naruto didn't say a word before he shook his head disapprovingly and reached for his sword and walked down the path they came from;

"Naruto?" says a surprised Katara, "Where are you going?"

"To settle this once and for all," said Naruto without stopping only for Katara to run up and get in front of him to stop him, "The rest of you clean Appa up and go find Toph, once you do leave as far away as possible."

Then without warning Naruto used his air-bending to gain speed, dashing through the field as he saw the cloud of smoke getting bigger and bigger till he saw the tank on his sights and without warning the blonde jumped in the air and shot a stream of white fire at the tank, nailing it on one of the wheels as it exploded and derailed past the blonde.

Naruto just watched as the door from back wagon was opened, revealing Azula with her companions mounted on those oversized lizards while Sasuke blasted through the tank, staring into the blonde's eyes with indifference as the flames melted the metal, neither one paying the girls any attention.

"Azula," began Sasuke, gaining the girl's attention, "Go after the avatar."

Azula looked back and fore between the blonde and the Uchiha, before she turned towards Mai and Ty Lee;

"Let's go!"

They girls just nodded and left in hot pursue of the avatar once more, everyone being unaware of Zuko's presence or in Naruto's and Sasuke's, simply didn't care if he was there or not.

The wind was howling as the two continued to stare one another;

"It's been a long time since our unfinished duel," said Sasuke all of a sudden as he burned his robe, wearing the fire nation armor with a Chinese broadsword at the hip;

"That it has," admitted the blonde before he narrowed his eyes at the man he once considered a brother, slowly drawing his katana with Sasuke mimicking his movements.

Silence ensued once more till the sound of rumbling was heard as the skies darkened more, lightning flashing above the skies till a bolt descended onto a nearby tree and lit on fire, causing the of them to rush one another;

"Ahhh!" shouted the two till Sasuke jumped into the air, twisting as he landed with a downward slash but the blonde manage to parry it as he blocked and let it slide to the side, but quickly saw an opening as he rushed towards the Uchiha's unprotected back but Sasuke saw it coming as he side stepped to the side and countered as he landed an uppercut to the blonde's chin, stumbling backwards, giving Sasuke the chance to attack the crimson avatar with his sword as he slashed side to side, but Naruto dodged the strikes without effort. Naruto quickly countered by nicking the stomach and chest plate armor of his former friend but the third strike the Uchiha blocked with forearm, but sidestepped at the last minute when he heard a whistle, making Naruto slash the ground as he made a deep, long gash where Sasuke used to stand, but the blonde expect this and twisted his body to deliver a strong left hook to the unprotected face.

Sasuke looked at the attack he evaded then looked at the blonde, his eyes were cold and merciless as he placed the blade in front of him, pressures of wind rolling off of him. Sasuke didn't say anything as he ignited his blade in dark flames. Naruto narrowed his eyes before attacking, but the Uchiha slashed at narrowed points with the blonde barely dodging. Naruto used his sword to block or parry the slashes left and right, but he knew that despite that, he was still being burned by the flames as he could feel burnt marks on his shoulders and arms, but the avatar quickly raised a thick wall of earth to help him escape a downward slash from Sasuke, cutting it as it were butter and without warning he slashed horizontally, aiming to cut the blonde in half, but Naruto countered with a slash of his own, coating his blade in white flames. Both swords clashed at high speeds, causing an explosion upon contact as both blades were destroyed but bothered neither one as Naruto went for the punch, but Sasuke beat him to punch as he shot a flame shot at point blank, but the blonde reacted on instinct as he adverted it by blocking the attack with his forearm, sending the hot stream upward. Then Naruto shot a fist covered in flames, but Sasuke deflected it as he redirect Naruto's hand to the right and countered with a right of his own but it was quickly swatted to the side, their attacks destroying anything they consumed. Believing his opponent to be focused on him, he went for a leg sweep but the blonde quickly jumped in the air and flipped to do a flaming heel drop, but Sasuke squatted and used both his forearms to block the attack, causing a mild tremor upon impact. Using his strength advantage, Sasuke pushed him off, causing Naruto to go unbalanced and giving Sasuke an opening, however, he didn't count on the crimson avatar to fall back on one hand and twist his body at mid fall to kick Sasuke's fist to the side, creating an opening for the blonde as he jumped back to his feet and pretended to deliver a flaming elbow to which the Uchiha brought his left arm up to protect himself, leaving his midsection completely open as Naruto switched his attack to a flaming knee strike, nailing him scare in the midsection as the Uchiha spat blood, but Sasuke retaliated as he pushed the blonde's knee down and landed a right flame hook, causing the blonde grunt in pain, creating a small amount of space between the two due to the force of the punch and quickly, the two of them sent their strongest flame blast at each other at point blank once more.

The result was a stronger explosion between the two as both were sent sailing this time.

Naruto used the boulders he was approaching to stop himself as he did a mid-flip and pushed off against them to gain momentum to attack Sasuke with an element of surprise while the smoke covered his view, however, he suddenly saw a flash heading his way that made him close his eyes and suddenly stop due to the sharp pain he felt coming from his left shoulder, his body quickly going numb as his left arm hanged limply, slowly falling to one knee as the wind quickly blew the smoke, revealing Sasuke with his right hand stretched out, covered in lightning;

"Don't be surprised Naruto," said Sasuke cooly as he approached the down avatar to a certain distance, "This jutsu should be familiar to you but thanks to being able to learn Fire-bending and its advanced forms through the years after being freed from my icy prison, I have been able to manipulate my lightning jutsus with more ease."

Slowly, Sasuke brought his left hand up, pointing towards the darkened sky, the clouds humming as lightning dance about, as if responding to his command as a makeshit lightning dragon appeared from between the clouds, roaring right at the crimson avatar;

"Die Naruto! Kirin!" shouted the black dragon of the fire nation as he brought his hand down, a lightning flash descending as it illuminated Naruto before he was consumed by the blast.

- / . \ -

After having left the group, Toph has now walked for some time and gained much distance, but then she stops suddenly upon feeling a vibration. Without warning, she hits the ground, knocking the unknown person that was hiding behind a boulder off their feet, only to reveale Iroh.

After proving to Toph that he wasn't a threat, she and Iroh are sharing a cup of tea on the cliff, overlooking a farming village as Toph explains to him what had happened between her and her traveling companions. Iroh tells Toph that he finds similarities between Toph and his nephew. Being curious, Toph asks where his nephew is and if he is lost.

Sighing, Iroh responds that he is "a little lost", telling her that his nephew's life has recently changed, confusing him as he has left to try and discover who he is. Also, he advises her not to resist the people that love you and try to help. Quietly, Toph ponders on his words and realizes that leaving them was a mistake and stands up ready leave as she thanks him but stopped just as quickly when she heard thunder rumbling, both looking at the direction where the storm was centered at the most and then all of a sudden a lightning flashed happened as lightning bolt struck, shaking everything in its aftermath;

"Where did this lightning storm come from?" asked Toph, feeling a little uneasy at the vibe the storm was giving;

Iroh, however, just narrowed his eyes as he has seen this only once in his lifetime;

"This is no regular storm," replied the dragon of the west, as he wondered on his mind, "_Who are you fighting to have resort to use such a technique._"

- / . \ -

Now clean and shed fur-less after his wash, Appa is deemed ready to fly by Aang as long as they leave his saddle and everything else off.

Heeding Toph's, Aang decides to give Azula the slip and take what is left of the shed fur and lead the tank off course while suggesting the water tribe siblings to fly off in one direction, hitting trees on take-off, as he goes in a different route.

Thirty minutes later; Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee reached the spot of Appa's bath and found the wet fur deposited into the stream. Noticing a trail of hair, Mai tells Azula the trail heads off in a direction to the right. However, Azula quickly scans the area and notices the broken trees from Appa's shaky take-off and quickly realizes what the avatar is planning to do. She tells Mai and Ty Lee to head in the direction of the broken trees while she follows the fur trail.

Back with Appa and the rest, Momo lets out a panicked screech, signaling the return of Mai and Ty Lee, enabling them to duck out of the way of Mai's darts in time. Katara desperately tries to get Appa to move faster while in mid-air, but to no avail, he shoots down like a stone being skipped across the river due to his lack of sleep, landing on the other side of the river where Sokka and Katara believe they are safe. However, their hopes are shattered as the mongoose dragons reveal their most astonishing ability: they are able to run on water, causing the siblings to curse.

Once they had reached the other side, Ty Lee heads quickly for Katara as she begins darting her hands towards the pressure points, but Katara's past experience with Ty Lee's chi blocking allows her to dodge her attacks easily. However, Mai and Ty Lee have better teamwork than the siblings as it showed when Katara ends up pinned to a tree by the hem of her sleeves through Mai's expert knife-throwing skills while she was distracted by said acrobat and Sokka becomes almost completely paralyzed by Ty Lee's strikes after her attention was diverted towards him. Mai was disappointed as she believed they would put up more of a challenge as the siblings were rounded together, but the two didn't count on Appa to be a saving grace as he smacks his tail to the ground, blasting a gust of wind at Mai and Ty Lee, throwing them into the river. After freeing herself by tearing the hems of her sleeves, she quickly works on her brother by applying the pressure points Naruto had taught her to hit if they were to encounter Azula's group again;

"Thanks Katara," said Sokka gratefully as he could now feel his limbs again, although a bit sore.

"No problem, now let's get out of here and go assist Aang so we can go find Toph and Naruto," urgently said Katara mounted Appa and helped her brother get on, but before she told Appa to hit the skies, the sound of thunder rumbling reached their ears, all of them looking at the direction where the storm was centered at the most and then all of a sudden a lightning flashed happened as lightning bolt struck, shaking everything in its aftermath. Taking a while for the aftermath to clear, the two siblings just felt a dread at the pit of their stomachs;

"What was that?" muttered Sokka, somewhat afraid

"I don't know," replied an equally afraid Katara.

- / . \ -

Meanwhile; Aang, exhausted and low on momentum, comes across a small, abandoned Earth Kingdom town. Findsing a spot and almost out of hair, the young avatar slumps on to the end of the town; there he dumps the remains of what fur is left and sits there, waiting for Azula, but he didn't have to wait long as Azula reached the end of the trail where Aang was waiting for her.

Dismounts her lizard, the fire princess slowly approached Aang, who was tired and sleep-deprived, tries to seek diplomacy and asks who Azula is and what she wants. Azula held a look that clearly said 'are you stupid?" as she is surprised he has not guessed yet, so she has a little fun as she pokes fun at her absent brother by giving a hint while covering the left side of her face and quoting Zuko;, "I must find the Avatar to restore my honor!"

Aang does not respond causing Azula to sigh;

"You must be either slow or simply retarded," muttered the fire nation princess.

And so, without exchanging any words, the two stand facing each other at a stand-off, till Azula breaks the silence;

"Look avatar, do you really want to fight little ol' me?" questioned Azula in a bored tone, not really wanting to fight the avatar herself, but didn't dare to cross her master . . . just yet.

However, her question was by Zuko as he bursts through an old building, landing between the two in his fighting stance;

"Yes, I really do."

However, their little standoff was halted when they heard the sound lightning striking from the distance, causing the three look towards the sound, only to find a massive dark cloud hovering in the distance, feeling the raw power from it. Seeing the distracted, Aang quickly tried to use his glide for a quick getaway, but it failed as Zuko jumped higher than Aang to prevent him from escaping as he shot a stream of fire from his foot. Azula quickly began attacking her brother, in hopes of the avatar to escape, but for some reason the bald monk joined forces with Zuko as the two faced off against the Fire Nation Princess as they chased her throughout the abandoned town, believing she proves to be the most dangerous of the three, making Azula want to pull her hair out of frustration;

"_That's it, the avatar is a damn retard!_" retorted the princess as she countered with a shot of her own, hitting Zuko hard and knocking him back. After that, she quickly corners Aang within a saloon with the intention of knocking some sense to him, but she wouldn't get the chance as water tribe siblings ambushed her within as Sokka manages to sneak up on her and knick her shoulder armor with his boomerang, but he was the distraction as he got out of the way and revealed Katara use the water in her gourd to strike Azula, but said princess quickly countered with a fire blast of her own as she made the water turn to steam. Katara quickly rushed away from the entrance with the princess hot on pursuit, but once she tounched the earth, the ground underneath her feet shuffled as it caused to stumble on the ground, revealing Toph had come to the aid.

Iroh had also arrived he to help his nephew and the avatar as they created a perfect perimeter around Azula, cornering her without any forms of escape as she noticed when she look around her surroundings.

She refused to surrender as she got in her stance, causing the others to attack her with all four elements, however, a shadow descended between Azula and the group, a horizontal slash of black fire went across the group as the attacks collided and caused an explosion, sending everyone back. Iroh got back to his feet but was quickly put down as he yelled out of pain when he felt pain through on his right shoulder, looking down he saw a lightning senbon had gone through his shoulder, gaining the attention of the rest as they saw the famed dragon of the west clutching his right shoulder in pain as it bled through his fingers;

"You and your uncle have caused the Fire Lord a lot of problems," said Sasuke coldly as he stepped out of the smoke with Azula pulling herself off of the ground as the shockwave of the explosion caught her off guard and sent her flying against the wall, hitting the back of her head as a result as she groggily got to her knees, seeing a blurry, but towering figure of her master;

"No!" whispered Azula very quietly, her nails digging on the earth.

Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka and Zuko all looked at the raven haired Uchiha with fear, fearing him for different kinds of reasons, but fearing him none the less as all of them got ready to fight for their lives as they all of in their stances in front of Iroh;

"What have you done with Naruto?!" demanded Katara, fear still laced on her voice, only to have cold shivers run down her spine when he chuckled darkly;

"The crimson avatar is dead girl, just like he should've been dead long time ago," responded Sasuke, earning wide eyes from everyone around;

"They are the one and the same!" thought the water-bender frantically as she remembered her vision from the swamp regarding the blonde and the avatar.

"What do you mean?!" demanded Sokka as he gripped his weapon tighter.

Sasuke didn't reply as he just let out another dark chuckle before he tilted his head back as he sucked air in let out a stream of fire that soon turned into a massive wall of fire that rushed towards them. The heat of the fire was intense that it made them sweat despite being far away from it.

Toph just raised a massive wall of rock to stop the attack, but to the shock of everyone, the fire just burst through the rock as if it were nothing. Everyone just tried to protect themselves with forearms in some pitiful attempt to defend themselves from the attack, but out of nowhere, another shadow appeared in front of them and let out a giant ball of white fire towards the wall, cancelling out the attack as the attacks exploded.

Everyone covered themselves from the dust created by the collision and waited for the dust to settle and once they did, they all saw Naruto standing in front of them with his back turned towards them, his left side bleeding at the shoulder that was steaming as his vest gone, small cuts and bruises adorning his body but what had their attention the most, including Azula's, were the markings that were seen his arms and shoulders. Markings that resembled those on the crimson avatar that helped them on the North Pole.

"Na-Naruto?" questioned Katara as her body shook, only for her to gasp even more when said person turned towards her, the same crimson eyes she saw at the North Pole steering down at her before his sights turned back towards the Uchiha;

Said person just glared down at the blonde with fire adorning his closed fists;

"You should've stayed dead, dobe," retorted Sasuke angrily

"Not until I make sure your head is off your neck," retorted the blonde back coldly, causing his group to flinch at the sheer coldness before he began marching towards Sasuke slowly till he began picking speed to rush at him;

Sasuke shot a one, two combo with a double fist at the end, flames turning into dragon heads as they headed towards the blonde, but said person didn't let up his speed as he spun and redirect the first dragon to the side, causing an old business stand to explode in flames, then the crimson avatar faces the second flame as his cheeks bulge up and shots a compressed water bullet, causing steam to cover the area as the attacks cancel each other. The last dragon roars as it rushed towards the avatar who just jumps out of the mist and thrusts his hands out as he used his wind and water combo into a compressed, frozen wind drill as it drills into the mouth of the dragon causing it bulge up before exploding.

Sasuke appeared behind the blonde with lightning covering his hand, but turned at the last minute to catch it with air compressed in his hand, thus cancelling out the lightning and harshly pulled the Uchiha, who had a moment of shock, and quickly rammed his forearm at the Uchiha's elbow, a sickening crunch filling the air as Sasuke just grunted in pain as his arm hanged useless after jumping away from the blonde, but said opponent didn't let up his attack as he jumped in a horse stance and spread his arms wide with his fingers stretched out, causing the whole town to shake as some boulders that surrounded the town disintegrated into sand and rushed towards the blonde who slowly slid his right leg forward and his left hand back with an open palm. Then twisted his hand before clenching it, causing spiked of earth to shot up underneath Sasuke one managed to cut him in the thigh but didn't slow him down as he used flame shots to melt the rocks or destroy them, but he didn't see the blonde quickly send his left hand forward as the sand rushed at the Uchiha in different directions, causing said person to dodge even more till he landed in the middle of the town and sand was coming at him from all directions until he raised his fist up and brought it down to create a dome of fire to protect him and expand to consume everything.

From a distance, the tattoos on his body began to glow crimson as he brought his hands in a prayer and quickly shot them forward, controlling the black flames from expanding even further and again, brought them back in a prayer form in a slow manner, watching as the dome began to shrink little by little till it was a sphere of fire with Sasuke in the middle of it.

Raising a hand with the palm facing up, the crimson avatar commanded the sphere to rise up to the air to a certain height as the blonde focused his energy on his right as lightning began to cackle on his hand before forming a make-shift with his hand with his pointing and middle finger being the center point of the gathered energy.

Naruto was about to release it at Sasuke before he felt a blunt object hit the back of his head hard enough to cause to stumble as his attack lost some of its potency but wasn't enough to knock him out as he, groggily, pointed his attack at the sphere and felt another blow to the back of his head as he released his powered down attack, the last thing he saw before darkness consumed him was a lightning beam hitting Sasuke, exploding on contact as it send him flying into the distance to the middle of nowhere and then he knew no more …

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Annnndd Cut!

It has been a while since I've worked on this story, but mostly because I was lazy to write since I wrote this chapter from start to finish and I like to say I do like how the chapter came about.

I know I said that he would reveal himself at the library but I didn't want to wait that long. Also, this the first confrontation between the two as the next one will be at the Fall of Bang Si Sei.

Also, (#1) I wanted to make older because, honestly, I'm beginning to doubt the pairing and as a previous reader said, Toph seems to be a better fit for him. Toph or Azula, so I am still debating on the pairing. (#2) the episode of Zuko Alone, it's going to be a side story on how Sasuke came about in the family and how Azula came to be. Just wait and read when the side story is out lol.

Anyways, I want to say thank you for everyone for being patient and hope all of you enjoy the cahoter.

God Bless.


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